From the window from of my new office in Linotype’s new space, I look out onto the Autobahn, and the Taunus mountains.
In the spring of 2004, I started working at Linotype as an intern in the Product Marketing department. I was still at the HfG Offenbach, and worked as many hours a week as my foreign student visa allowed. After a year and a half, I broke off my studies, and joined Linotype full-time. From January 2006 through September 2007, I continued on in the Product Marketing department as the Editor of Font Content. Quite a mouthful of a job title, I know. But writing content for the Linotype website, working on the Linotype Matrix, and visiting quite a few conferences helped keep me happy on my way to and from work every day.
In October 2007, I took a year off to attend the MA typeface design course at the University of Reading. I continued to write web content on a freelance basis for a time, but the bulk of my work was assumed by fellow-MATD grad Rob Keller. He described “our” job better than I probably could ever do here.
I’m fortunate enough to be on the top floor, which has a terrace. The view looks out across miles of fields. In the distance, you can see the Frankfurt skyline.
12 months later, I returned to Linotype in Bad Homburg. Many things seemed to have changed since I had left for Reading. We were now adding a multitude of third-party foundries into our webshop, and we had moved into a newer, better office space on the other side of town. Our coffee machine had gotten an upgrade, so my too-many-cups-of-coffee were tasting better, too.
A thing of beauty. Three Apple laptops, all lined up. Missing in this photo are two printers, and some other stuff I have at home.
For personal reasons, it was necessary for me to relocate to Berlin around this same time. At the moment, I split my time between the German capital and the Frankfurt-area, meaning that I spend quite a lot of time in the posh ICE trains. I also spend quite a lot of money on a yearly pass to the semi-dysfunctional not-yet-privatized German rail concern.
I try to surround myself with nice things in Bad Homburg, too. Like the piece of English ephemera on the wall, or trinkets from India on my desk.
Since the beginning of the 2009, I’ve assumed a new role at Linotype. I’m now working as a Font Engineer & Typographic Specialist in the font production group. Please don’t ask me what any of this actually means, because I haven’t a solid idea yet. But I have my nose buried in python-learning guides, and am hoping not to embarrass myself too much at RoboThon in The Hague, come the beginning of March.