Hans Peter Willberg

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Hans Peter Willberg (born October 4, 1930 in Nuremberg ; † May 29, 2003 in Eppstein ) was a German typographer , illustrator , book designer , university professor and specialist author. He is considered one of the most important German book designers of the post-war period.

Life

Hans Peter Willberg studied six semesters from 1952 to 1957 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and then at the Stuttgart Art Academy , where he studied book design and typography with Walter Brudi and illustration with Karl Rössing . After some time as a freelance book designer, he became managing director of the Book Art Foundation in Frankfurt am Main, which was founded in 1966 . In the following years he published several books, so in 1981 together with Monika Müller-Thomas recognize fonts. A typology of typesetting for graphic designers, typesetters, booksellers and art educators, and in 1984 his own book Art in Transition followed. The development of book design in the Federal Republic of Germany .

With several colleagues in his field, Willberg initiated the founding of a platform for typography in 1983. In the following year, the "Typography Forum" was founded in Berlin and he was chairman for many years. He thus had a major influence on new developments in the field of font design and font development. From 1975 until his retirement in 1996 he was professor of typography and book design in the communication design course at the Mainz University of Applied Sciences . As a university lecturer, he helped shape a new generation of book and font designers, "who do not design according to typographic dogmas, but for the eyes of the reader." For Manesse Verlag , founded in Zurich , Willberg created a publisher's label in 1988 and designed - together with his wife Brigitte, who is also a book designer - the book series Manesse Library of World History and the Manesse Library and designed the 100 samples of the bindings for the library of the 20th century (edited by Walter Jens and Marcel Reich-Ranicki ).

In 1989, the Buchkunst Foundation initiated the award of the “Promotion Prize for Young Book Art”. The criterion for this annual competition are particularly innovative and future-oriented concepts for the design and further development of the book medium by young book artists. After German reunification in 1990, intensive communications and understanding took place between Hans Peter Willberg and Professor Albert Kapr (1918–1995), who worked in Leipzig , which led to joint action at the two traditional German book locations Frankfurt / Main and Leipzig. In 1991 the Foundation for Book Art was entrusted with the international competition “Most Beautiful Books from All Over the World”, which has been held in Leipzig since 1963 and which also takes place annually. Each year, the 14 most beautiful books are selected from the entries received and honored with the “Golden Letter”. Willberg was also a member of the selection committee for many years. On May 6, 1992, he received the Gutenberg Prize of the City of Leipzig for his outstanding services in the field of book art . Numerous prizes and awards followed.

Other publications from his pen, together with Friedrich Forssman, were Reading Typography and First Aid in Typography in 1997 . Guide to dealing with writing. (1999), his own work Typolemik. Highlights on Typographical Correctness / Typophilia. Beloved books in 2000 and a year later Signposts . In doing so, he continuously ensured that the decades of experience gained in realigning book and writing under the conditions of significantly improved, but also industrially usable tools were not lost and were subjected to a scientific evaluation.

Willberg designed numerous books and wrote standard works. With his work he is one of the most famous book designers from the second half of the 20th century. He developed the Willberg typeface classification , which, along with the DIN classification, is one of the most important criteria for enabling a precise classification of typefaces.

Hans Peter Willberg died on May 29, 2003 in Eppstein after a serious illness. His estate is in the German Museum of Books and Writing in the German National Library in Leipzig.

Works

  • Recognize fonts. A typology of typesetting for graphic designers, typesetters, booksellers and art educators , (together with Monika Müller-Thomas), Maier, Ravensburg 1981, ISBN 3-473-61581-1 . New edition by Daniel Sauthoff, Gilmar Wendt and Willberg under the title: Recognizing Fonts. A typology of typefaces for students, graphic artists, typesetters, art teachers and all PC users . Schmidt , Mainz 1996, ISBN 3-87439-373-9 , ISBN 3-87439-418-2 .
  • Book art in transition. The development of book design in the Federal Republic of Germany . Book Art Foundation, Frankfurt 1984, ISBN 3-76571282-5
  • Reading typography . (together with Friedrich Forssman ) Schmidt, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-87439-375-5 (4th revised edition 2005 under the title Reading Typography , ISBN 3-87439-652-5 ).
  • First aid in typography. Guide to dealing with writing. (together with Friedrich Forssman) Schmidt, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-87439-474-3 (7th edition 2013).
  • Typolemics. Highlights on Typographical Correctness / Typophilia. Beloved books . Schmidt, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-87439-541-3 .
  • Signpost font. First aid for dealing with fonts, what fits, what works, what disturbs . Schmidt, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-87439-569-3 (4th edition 2011).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography about Hans Peter Willberg, in: https://gut-zum-druck.org/biografien/
  2. ^ In Google Books: Marion Janzin, Joachim Güntner: The book from the book: 5000 years of book history , Schlütersche, 2007, p. 447, ISBN 978-3-8999-3805-0
  3. ↑ Ralf Herrmann, short biography about Hans Peter Willberg, February 12, 2013 in: https://www.typografie.info/3/Personen/wiki.html/hans-peter-Willberg-r33/
  4. ↑ Proofs and bequests on book and media culture. Retrieved June 11, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Willberg, Hans Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German typographer, illustrator, book designer, university lecturer and specialist author
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH May 29, 2003
Place of death Eppstein