Mike Kohnke
Encyclopedia
Michael Kohnke is an American graphic designer
, type designer, and cartographer, best known for his innovative type designs.
Born Michael Walter Kohnke in Bremerhaven, Germany, Kohnke grew up in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, strongly influenced by transportation systems and architecture. While a design student at Western Michigan University
, a geography instructor encouraged him to pursuit a position at the National Geographic Society
, thus bringing together the disciplines of graphic design and cartography. Kohnke later moved to San Francisco to become an information designer at Richard Saul Wurman's The Understanding Business. In the years following, he worked as a design consultant for Michael Cronan Design
, Zimmerman Crowe Design/Vehicle Design, and Mark Anderson Design. He was Creative Director at Vinje Design, overseeing work that encompassed annual reports, magazine design, identity, and print collateral. In 1996 he received honors from Mayor Willie Brown for designing the City of San Francisco's Civic Center Identity.
Kohnke currently maintains Typebox, LLC, a company which provides innovative map, graphic design, and type design services. The firm was founded upon his completion of a Masters degree from the California Institute of the Arts
in 2000. It was at CalArts where Kohnke studied with Jeffrey Keedy, Ed Fella
, and Michael Worthington. New approaches in design process and philosophy fueled a large volume of silkscreened posters and experimental typeface designs. Those ideas were quickly assimilated into his current professional practice of designing unique typefaces, typography, logo design, maps, and information graphics.
The most notable Typebox, LLC projects include the Tech TV identity, movie graphics for the Miramax film Bounce, and several book cover designs for the consumer book division at O'Reilly Media
. His best selling typeface designs are NineVolt, Toolshop, Manifesto, and Blotch. Kohnke works with non-profit, small businesses, and high-profile clients. Collaborations include designing for Apple, Autodesk, BankAmerica, Harper Collins publishing, Hewlett Packard, Levi Strauss, Nestlé, Oracle, Palm, Seabourn, Sprint, and Pfizer.
Kohnke lives in San Francisco, California.
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
, type designer, and cartographer, best known for his innovative type designs.
Born Michael Walter Kohnke in Bremerhaven, Germany, Kohnke grew up in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, strongly influenced by transportation systems and architecture. While a design student at Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....
, a geography instructor encouraged him to pursuit a position at the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
, thus bringing together the disciplines of graphic design and cartography. Kohnke later moved to San Francisco to become an information designer at Richard Saul Wurman's The Understanding Business. In the years following, he worked as a design consultant for Michael Cronan Design
Michael Patrick Cronan
Michael Patrick Cronan is an American graphic designer, artist and an American Institute of Graphic Arts Fellow based in Berkeley California. One of the founders of the San Francisco Bay Area postmodern movement in graphic design that became known as the , and a recognized corporate identity...
, Zimmerman Crowe Design/Vehicle Design, and Mark Anderson Design. He was Creative Director at Vinje Design, overseeing work that encompassed annual reports, magazine design, identity, and print collateral. In 1996 he received honors from Mayor Willie Brown for designing the City of San Francisco's Civic Center Identity.
Kohnke currently maintains Typebox, LLC, a company which provides innovative map, graphic design, and type design services. The firm was founded upon his completion of a Masters degree from the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
in 2000. It was at CalArts where Kohnke studied with Jeffrey Keedy, Ed Fella
Ed Fella
Ed Fella is an artist, educator and graphic designer whose work has had an important influence on contemporary typography. Ed worked as a commerical artist designing...
, and Michael Worthington. New approaches in design process and philosophy fueled a large volume of silkscreened posters and experimental typeface designs. Those ideas were quickly assimilated into his current professional practice of designing unique typefaces, typography, logo design, maps, and information graphics.
The most notable Typebox, LLC projects include the Tech TV identity, movie graphics for the Miramax film Bounce, and several book cover designs for the consumer book division at O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media is an American media company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books and Web sites and produces conferences on computer technology topics...
. His best selling typeface designs are NineVolt, Toolshop, Manifesto, and Blotch. Kohnke works with non-profit, small businesses, and high-profile clients. Collaborations include designing for Apple, Autodesk, BankAmerica, Harper Collins publishing, Hewlett Packard, Levi Strauss, Nestlé, Oracle, Palm, Seabourn, Sprint, and Pfizer.
Kohnke lives in San Francisco, California.