As the host institution at the Royal Danish Academy, we are pleased to offer a comprehensive introduction to the Danish type design scene for the ATypI audience. Denmark has a rich sign painting tradition, which has significantly influenced the development of modern Danish type design. The broader historical context will be outlined by Sofie Beier and Matthias Horneman-Thiecke, followed by individual short presentations by Danish type designers.
A group of innovative Danish type designers will share their unique perspectives on the matter. The invited designers will each present a brief focused talk. Each designer will be asked to provide a personal take on how Danish heritage has influenced their own practice.
Linda Hintz is an independent type and graphic designer. She holds a Master’s degree from the Type and Media program at The Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, Netherlands, and a Diploma in Visual Communication from HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. Based in Copenhagen with her family, she divides her time between design and teaching. Her work spans custom, retail, and self-initiated projects of varying scales.
Alongside larger projects, she often undertakes smaller side projects, such as creating Pouf during the development of Neue Plak or Tegner while working on 29LT Idris. She is interested in exploring new tools, working alongside different scripts, and collaborating with colleagues, students, and various publishing methods to maintain a diverse practice.
Matthias J. E. Horneman-Thielcke is a graphic designer, letterpress printer, teacher and PhD fellow at The Royal Danish Academy and Designmuseum Danmark. In the historical orientated research, Matthias focuses on identifying what has facilitated the emerge and development of the Danish Sans Serif Culture. For almost two decades, Matthias has worked as a designer, designing visual identities, editorial design and typography. Today, alongside his research, he heads his own typographic design studio, NEU PRESS, an independent publishing- and design studio based in Copenhagen.
Nicolaj Bak is a multidisciplinary designer and the founder of Overtone®, an award winning design studio specialising in brand, type, and digital design. With over 20 years of experience, Nicolaj has crafted brand identities, typefaces, and digital products for clients ranging from cultural institutions to large international corporations.
He designed and coded his first digital typeface on a Commodore VIC20 at the age of 13. Trained as a classical musician, he spent years of practice and performances before transitioning from an audible to a visual focus. Since then, he has been captivated by the power of typography and type design.
At Overtone®, the team is small but mighty, focused on delivering carefully crafted strategic design solutions in close collaboration with clients and creating transformative identities that inspire.
Sofie Beier is a graphic designer and professor at the Royal Danish Academy, specializing in improving typeface legibility and making reading accessible to everyone. Her research, grounded in psychophysics, explores how typographic choices influence reading performance and visual perception. With a strong interest in technology, she investigates ways to enhance reading experiences through innovations like AI and eye-tracking technologies. In addition to authoring the book series Type Tricks and Reading Letters: Designing for Legibility, she has published numerous academic papers on typeface legibility and is also a partner at the typeface analysis institute Typ.
Elias Stenalt Werner
Jeppe Pendrup
Jonas Hecksher
Kasper Pyndt
Linda Hintz
Matthias Horneman-Thielcke
Nicolaj Bak
Siri Lee Lindskrog
Sofie Beier
Torsten Lindsø Andersen
Trine Rask