The intelligently bold type and graphic design of Elias Hanzer

Date
11 January 2017

Elias Hanzer is an Austrian graphic designer with an appetite for type. Letterforms of all shapes and serifs are an endless graphic delight on his tumblr, even more impressive when you learn that many typefaces are designed by Elias himself. 

Currently studying visual communication at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Elias is spending his time “more and more focusing on type design,” he explains. The results are grotesque, in the design sense of course, recently creating a new typeface, Eh Normal. The typeface is available in three weights, light, regular and bold, and includes three different stylesheets, “Space, Jungle and City,” to showcase its differentiating characteristics.

Further typeface designs from Elias include Moment a “graffiti-inspired scribble typeface,” the designer tells It’s Nice That. To resonate with his inspiration of graffiti “each character comes with an alternate variation to simulate writing on a wall”. Working with designer Lucas Liccini, the font graced a recent cover of Protocol Magazin. 

In terms of graphic design output Elias’ most recent work, a series of posters for lectures at his university, display his ability to arrange and manipulate type. Each of the posters were screen printed “since we wanted to print the poster for the following talk over the previous one, creating an effect of layers," says Elias. The results pack a printed punch with primary colours thickly layered on top of one another. 

With an upcoming internship at abcDinamo a Berlin based type foundry, we look forward to seeing Elias’ growing portfolio and future in font. 

Above

Elias Hanzer & Katharina Nejdl: Medienhaus Lectures

Above

Elias Hanzer & Katharina Nejdl: Medienhaus Lectures

Above

Elias Hanzer & Katharina Nejdl: Medienhaus Lectures

Above

Elias Hanzer: Moment typeface for Protocol

Above

Elias Hanzer: Moment typeface for Protocol

Above

Elias Hanzer: Berlin Summer University

Above

Elias Hanzer: Protocol

Above

Elias Henzer: Eh Normal typeface specimen

Above

Elias Henzer: Eh Normal typeface specimen

Share Article

About the Author

Lucy Bourton

Lucy (she/her) is the senior editor at Insights, a research-driven department with It's Nice That. Get in contact with her for potential Insights collaborations or to discuss Insights' fortnightly column, POV. Lucy has been a part of the team at It's Nice That since 2016, first joining as a staff writer after graduating from Chelsea College of Art with a degree in Graphic Design Communication.

lb@itsnicethat.com

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.