Starting out working for The Type Director's Club, we can understand why Meryl LoVES typography—she's pretty good at it too! Now based in Berlin we love her playfulness with words and her bad ass attitude to getting shit done ? and making awesomeness happen.
When did you fall in love with design and how did you get started?
I fell in love with design through my mother’s fashion magazines and father’s Bauhaus books. Modernity and minimalism have had a supernatural force on me since a very young age. By the time I was 16, I designed my first letterpress business card and titled myself a designer. Although I was completely faking it, I got my first freelance job that year doing a logo for a photographer. I went into Parsons thinking I would be a fashion designer, but quickly realized I was only in it for my love of shopping. I enrolled in an Intro to Typography class at Parsons and on the first day of class, I experienced my first life epiphany of, “oh shit, letters are their own thing?” I switched majors that day and the obsession has persisted. I cannot express to most people how fascinated I am with type and its ability to remain old and new at the same time, it is magic to me.
Where did you study and what were some of your first jobs?
I went to Parsons School of Design in New York City. It remains one of the greatest experiences of my life because I learned to work hard at what I love. That’s a powerful thing to realise at 19 years old.
My first job in NYC was at The Type Directors Club and it was incredible. Even though I was not designing, I was learning to see through studying contemporary master works. I got to look at thousands of type specimens and design pieces every day from all over the world. Later, I worked for Italian typographer, Matteo Bolognia, at Mucca Design. After that, I moved across America to work for DJ Stout at the Pentagram office in Austin, Texas.
Give us the elevator pitch on what you do.
I am a trans-disciplinary designer specialising in branding and research. I put 75% of the budget and time into design research and 25% into the actual making. My studio philosophy is that, the more you know, the easier it is to conceptualise and create. The work is a balancing act. I’m constantly playing the role of both a scientist and an artist.
What has been your highlights since you started out?
Winning the Communication Award of Excellence at Pentagram and moving across the world to start my business. While both are monumental, they came at hard times. I won the award shortly after I got my heart broken. I moved to Germany at a very vulnerable and lonely point in my life. I’ve had to pull myself back up many times. I strongly believe that if you fall down, get back up. There is usually good stuff around the corner.
What advice would you give students starting out?
- If you don’t ask, the answer is already no.
- Your self will always remain the most important person to know in life.
- Your fears are only as big as you make them.
- It takes as much time to worry as it does to plan.
- Don’t settle.
How important is networking to you?
Networking is hugely important to me. I am a creative extrovert, so having opportunities to share my passion and talk about ideas with others energises me. I tend to do this more with non-creatives because I am really into taking newbies through the process of storytelling through design.
