DESCRIPTION:
Andrea Tinnes, who studied at the Fachhochschule Rheinland- Pfalz in Mainz, Germany, and then at California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, set up her own graphic design and type design practice in Berlin in 1998. In addition to graphic design for print and “sometimes for screen” she also creates original contemporary fonts for retail and custom use. Tinnes’ clients are cultural and academic (MCAD and Cal Arts) as well as corporate (Nici AG, Walter-Bau AG, Dywidag AG). In addition to her client-driven projects, Tinnes takes pleasure in personal projects that investigate maps as 2D representations of 3D space. She collects all kinds of graphic ephemera, takes pictures of typographic artifacts she finds around her, and “simply enjoys making ‘stuff', playing with forms, investigating visual narratives.”

VOICE:
“I believe in the beauty of letterforms. Am I too pathetic?” wonders Tinnes. She also adheres to Erich Kaestner’s philosophy es gibt nichts gutes: außer man tut es, for which she thinks the translation is something like “there isn’t anything good, unless you do it yourself.” Apart from creating typefaces, Tinnes explores the potential of decoration and organic form, as evidenced her personal piece, Volvox (a system that creates a variety of ornamental composites through the superimposition of five fonts).

DISTINCTIVE MARKINGS:
“I’m obsessed with details,” confesses Tinnes. “I make 100 variations before I make a decision, I try to keep the inconsistencies consistent; I’m a female type nerd and a workaholic.”

HABITAT:
Tinnes works in a Berlin studio collective that, typically for the Berlin design scene, brings together people from diverse disciplines in an ad-hoc working environment—in this case a large apartment off the Schönhauser Allee that provides desk space for 13 graphic and screen designers, musicians, programmers, architects, and three dogs. Tinnes uses the word gemuetlicher to describe her working space, a term best translated as “informal, creative and friendly atmosphere, with no hierarchy, no competition.”

SPOTTED BY:
Michael Worthington: “Andrea is an amazing type designer. She designed this symbol font called Volvox that has an online component where you can alter various shapes, layers, colors, and movement to make these trippy Art Nouveau mandalas.”

CONTACT:
+49.0.30.61.60.95.54 | andrea@dasdeck.de | www.typekut.com

Written by David Womack