People in Design – Award:Wim Crouwel receives TDC Medal
Wim Crouwel was born in 1928 in the Netherlands. He studied art at the Minerva Art Academy in Groningen, followed by typography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 1963 he co-founded the Dutch design studio, Total Design. Crouwel’s work quickly made him an acclaimed and much sought-after graphic designer and typographer with an international reputation: from 1964 to 1985 he oversaw the design of all print products for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and in 1970 he designed the Dutch pavilion for Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan. He also designed postage stamps for the Dutch postal, telegraph and telephone service which remained in circulation for more than twenty years. From 1985 to 1993, Crouwel – also a teacher at various universities – served as director of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Of particular noteworthiness in his vast body of work is his typeface «New Alphabet», which he designed in 1967 as the first typeface for digital displays. Wim Crouwel has now been awarded the TDC Medal for his life’s work, the highest accolade given by the Type Directors Club (TDC) in New York. Additional links to articles, interviews, videos and exhibitions about Wim Crouwel are available on the TDC website.
