Rudy VanderLans

Rudy VanderLans (born 1955) is a Dutch graphic designer, photographer, and the co-founder of Emigre Fonts, an independent type foundry in Berkeley, with his wife Zuzana Licko. He was also the art director and editor of Emigre, an influential magazine devoted to visual communications from 1984 to 2005.

Since arriving in California in 1981, VanderLans has been photographing his adoptive Golden State as an ongoing side project. He has authored a total of 11 photo books on the topic, and staged two solo exhibits at Gallery 16 in San Francisco.

Education and early career

VanderLans studied graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague (KABK) and graduated in 1979. He worked as an apprentice designer at Wim Crouwel's Total Design in Amsterdam and as a junior designer at Form Vijf and Tel Design in The Hague.

In 1981, he moved to California and studied photography at the University of California, Berkeley where he met Zuzana Licko.

VanderLans was first introduced to type design while at KABK, where the well-known Dutch type designer and teacher Gerrit Noordzij had started an ambitious and influential type and lettering program in 1970. When asked in 2001 for a contribution to a Noordzij tribute, VanderLans wrote: “Noordzij is a very distant memory for me. Although any wisdom regarding type that I carry with me must have come from him.

From 1983–85, he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in the art department at the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

Emigre

From 1984 until 2005 VanderLans published, edited, and designed Emigre magazine, a quarterly publication devoted to visual communication and known for its inclusion of design discourse. Andrew Blauvelt, whose writing often occurred in the magazine, wrote that "Emigre covered emerging graphic designers and typographers seldom profiled in typical industry publications. It also published spirited design criticism in its pages–finding itself to be both the message and the messenger of many debates.”

Licko and VanderLans were early adopters of the personal computer, and Emigres launch coincided with the release of the Macintosh computer. They used the new technology to create some of the first digital layouts and typeface designs. Their experimental design aesthetics earned them equal amounts of praise and criticism in the 1990s.

Exposure of Zuzana Licko's fonts through the magazine led to VanderLans and Licko founding Emigre Fonts in 1985. VanderLans’ main contribution to Emigre Fonts continue to be his type specimen designs. In a review of the book Emigre Fonts: Type Specimens 1986-2016, critic Kenneth FitzGerald remarked that “Emigre’s specimens are notable for the negotiation of practical considerations and creative idealism—the essence of all graphic design. They demonstrate an adept dovetailing of these concerns, crafting a format that stimulates desire then provides an efficient vehicle for satisfying it. A balance is struck between providing an enthusing context for the type while not overwhelming it. Though far from 'neutral,' the framework is evocative and clear.”

VanderLans has received honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from Rhode Island School of Design (2004) and California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California (2005).

Books Emigre (The Book): Graphic Design into the Digital Realm, New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold; John Wiley & Sons, 1993 Emigre: Rosbeek 43, Charles Nypels Award, 1998, Netherlands: Drukkerij Rosbeek, 1998 Emigre No.70, Selections from Emigre Magazine #1 – #69, Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2009 Departures: Five Milestone Font Families by Emigre, Berkeley, CA: Emigre, 2011 Emigre Fonts: Type Specimens 1986 - 2016, Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2016

Photography

As a parallel interest to his design ventures, VanderLans has been photographing the California environment since he moved there from the Netherlands in 1981. He has authored a total of eleven photo books on the topic, and staged two solo exhibits at Gallery 16 in San Francisco.Photography books'

Positively Palmtree, small artist book created as an artist in residence at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester NY, 1985. Picture the Southwest, small artist book, part of Emigre No. 7, 1987. Palm Desert, Berkeley, CA: Emigre, 1999 Cucamonga, Berkeley, CA: Emigre, 2000 Joshua Tree, Berkeley, CA: Emigre, 2001 Supermarket, Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2001 Pages from an Imaginary Book, Paris, France, Onestar Press, 2003 Bagdad, Californie, Berkeley, Rodez, France, Éditions du Rouergue, 2004 Still Lifes, California, 2015 Still Lifes, U.S.A., Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2017 Still Lifes, Tokyo, Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2018 Anywhere, California, Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2020 Oleander Sunset, Berkeley, CA: Gingko Press, 2021

Awards

MacUser Desktop Publisher of the Year Award, 1986 Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, 1994 Publish Magazine Impact Awards, 1996 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal Award, 1997 Charles Nypels Award for Excellence in Typography, 1998 Honorary members of the Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago, 2010 Society of Typographic Aficionados Annual Typography Award, 2013 29th New York Type Directors Club Medal, 2016

Permanent collections

Denver Art Museum holds a complete set of Emigre magazine in their permanent collection. Design Museum in London holds a complete set of Emigre magazine in their permanent collection. Letterform Archive holds the Emigre Archives in their permanent collection. Museum für Gestaltung (Museum of Design, Zurich) holds Emigre magazine issues in their permanent collection. Museum of Modern Art in New York holds a complete set of Emigre magazine, and five digital fonts from the Emigre Fonts library in their permanent collection. Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco holds a complete set of Emigre magazine in their permanent collection.