Fons Hickmann

Fons Matthias Hickmann (born 1966) is a German graphic designer, typographer, author and professor of Communication Design at the Berlin University of the Arts.

Hickmann studied photography and communication design at the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf and Aesthetics and Media Theory in Wuppertal. The Fons Hickmann m23 design studio in Berlin focuses on the development of complex communication systems, corporate design, book, poster, magazine and web design.

Fons Hickmann m23 won the prestigious competition for corporate design at the Kieler Woche in 2001 and his work has been represented at all international design biennales. Hickmann was professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna until the end of 2007, before he took over the chair of graphic design / communication design in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Arts in Berlin from the summer semester in 2007. He taught previously at the Universities of Essen and Dortmund.

He is a member of the Type Directors Club of New York, the AGI Alliance Graphique Internationale and the Art Directors Club of Germany. The interdisciplinary design laboratory Bremerhaven recruited Hickmann to their Board from 2006-2012. Since 2012 he has been a member of the »Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland« jury.

Borne of a desire to prevent the use of the embarrassing Logo of the World Cup 2006 in Germany, the collaboration with leading German designers "11 Designer für Deutschland" (11 Designers for Germany) -through its great media coverage - successfully brought awareness of graphic design into the public domain. His own football expertise culminated in the 2014 release of the publication "The Best Game Of All Time – one minute protocols from 100 years of football history".

Fons Hickmann and his studio were invited to exhibit at the opening of the world's first museum of graphic design, the "Graphic Design Museum" in Breda. The exhibition "European Championship of Graphic Design" was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on 11 June 2008.

The Fons Hickmann m23 studio in Berlin is one of the world's most prestigious agencies and has received over 200 international awards, including the Golden Bee Award Moscow, iF Gold Award, ADC Award from Germany, Europe and the USA, Lead Award in Gold, the Joseph Binder Award in Gold, Silver and Bronze. In 2012 the Triennale Trnava honoured Fons Hickmann with the Master's Eye Award for his work.

Fons Hickmann is increasingly involved in the publishing of literature devoted to different fields, from photography to media theory, through to football and pop-cultural phenomena.

Fons Hickmann at the Typo Berlin conference 2010 in Berlin

• Fons Hickmann - Touch Me There, dgv Berlin (2005), ISBN 3-89955-079-X
• Beyond Graphic Design, Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz (2007), ISBN 978-3-87439-741-4
• Fons Hickmann & Students, Beijing (2004), ISBN 7-5006-5665-3
• Displace yourself !, Vienna (2002)
• Taschenlexikon der Angst. Hickmann, Barber, Wagenbreth (Hrsg) Verlag Hermann Schmidt 2012, ISBN 978-3874398428
• Das Beste Spiel aller Zeiten. Büsges, Gehrs, Hickmann (Hrsg) Kein & Aber Verlag Zürich 2014, ISBN 978-3-0369-5700-5
• Von erfolgreichen Designern lernen: Gutes Grafikdesign aus Deutschland (Galileo Design). Fons Hickmann, Boris Kochan, Rolf Mehnert, Daniel Rothaug, Raban Ruddigkeit, Jochen Theurer (Hrsg) Galileo Design; 1. Auflage 2014, ISBN 978-3836225403