Ulm school of design

Otl Aicher 

​Otl Aicher was a influential German graphic designer and typography, born on May the 13th, 1922, and grew up in Ulm, the south western state of Baden-Württemberg. Aicher was a close friend and a classmate of Werner scholl, and met his family who were known for their involvement in white rose, which was a non violent resistance group against the Nazi's. Some of Werner's family members were executed by guillotine for being part of white rose, while Aicher dissented from Nazis tyrannical hold over Germany. In 1937 he was arrested after refusing to join the Hitler youth, which meant he wasn't allowed to make it through his college entrance exam. Eventually being conscripted into the German army to fight in the second world war, which he made several attempts to leave , and when an opportunity presented itself, he deserted the army. The scholl family hid Aicher at their residence in 1945, and when the war finally came to a halt in 1946, he enrolled himself at the academy of fine arts Munich to study sculpture. He married into the scholl family, and with his wife and Max bill, collaborated in establishing the Ulm school of design. Only in a brief time did it become a successful institute of the arts, and it remained as one of Germanys leading educational centres until its closure in 1968.

​Otl Aicher's most notable works include the pictograms that he designed for the 1972 summer Olympics. the organisers of the 1972 Olympics approached Aicher and gave him the lead designers position, along with the instruction that the design must compliment the newly built stadium in Munich. the pictograms were made with the intention of presenting a visual representation of the stadium, and this careful creation of the pictograms helped both athletes and visitors to find their way around the olympic village and stadium. Later in his career he developed the Rotis font family in the 1888 after consulting the kitchen company Bulthaup. Aicher also wrote books on several subjects, including art and design.