Interview with Type Designer Erik Spiekermann

> The narrower a typeface gets, the less legible it becomes. We do also know that we have long words in Austria, like “Gumpersdorfer Straße” in Vienna – so now they only use the compressed version, even for short words, because it’s easier for them. Then I get blamed because it’s not legible, but that is not my fault. Maybe it is because I should have said no. When you’re supposed to work for a bad company, like weapons or tobacco, the argument is: “If I don’t do it, somebody else will, so I might as well do it.” If I wouldn’t have done the compressed version, somebody else would have done it, maybe even worse.

> “Shit, Spiekermann, you are right – you make us look better!” – that was my big lesson here: You make them look better, that is your job. We have the skill of showing them, not just complaining about things that don’t work.

> My Dutch friend Lucas de Groot put it nicely when he was learning German: “We have to verglücklichen our clients”, we have to make them happy.