W2 Professorship in Typography

The Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) is seeking to fill a W2 Professorship in Typography at the emerging institute of design disciplines with effect from October 1, 2027. The successful candidate will be appointed as either as a civil servant or as a permanent salaried employee.

The Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) is an internationally oriented art university with the right to award doctoral and post-doctoral degrees. With around 1000 students in the fields of fine arts, art education, performing arts, design and design studies, visual communication, art studies and media studies, the HBK Braunschweig is one of the large universities of the arts in Germany. 

The university’s design departments are currently undergoing a comprehensive restructuring. In addition to the establishment of a new institute, the degree programmes are to be reorganised and numerous professorial posts to be filled. In terms of both content and structure, this process is primarily guided by the profound transformation of the concept of design brought about by the impending  ecological and social transition.

Responsibilities and profile
The Professorship in Typography is to focus on examining, theoretically and practically, the issue of interpretability as well as the ways information is communicated through language, writing, and symbols. Moreover, an experimental approach to layout and grid systems in both print and digital media is expected. The professorship focuses on the conception, design, planning, production, and historical and theoretical reflection of typographic publications across all media and formats, including editorial design, books, websites, magazines, newspapers, e-books, exhibitions, and typography in public spaces. Its remit further encompasses communication and information design, text and letterform design, and the design of typefaces. In teaching, the role is intended to combine application-oriented practice with research into writing, signs, and visual identities against the backdrop of their contemporary formal, cultural, and technical context (e.g. variable fonts). Moreover, courses on the history of type and typography are envisioned.

A crucial area of responsibility is the active involvement in shaping and further developing the emerging institute, including the restructuring of the associated degree programmes. For more information, including application criteria and necessary documents, please visit here.