before emigre

 

Zuzana’s family moved from Czechoslovakia to the USA when she was seven. Her first client was her father, a bio-mathematician, who commissioned her to design a Greek font. She studied architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, but switched majors after two years for a degree in visual communications. Rudy attended the same university, studying photography, having already received a degree in graphic design from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) in 1979. Rudy and Zuzana met in 1982 and got married a year later.

effective design criticism? i have no idea what that is. but I love graphic design. and i love discussing it, and i love to understand it better, and in order to do so i ask a lot of pesky questions. that’s the model i use. —rudy vanderlans

 

 

Cover Story No.4. Digital pigment print. A collage of different geometric shapes, a hat, a robot etc

zuzana’s left-handedness

 

In an interview with Eye magazine, Zuzana stated that her greatest accomplishment was being able to design functional and desirable typefaces without mastering calligraphy, which she was taught was impossible. Zuzana is left-handed, and she despised being forced to write with her right hand in calligraphy class.