is an award-winning international designer, principal and owner of Kame Design in San Francisco since 1997.
His work is characterized by an expressive, direct visual language that always comes to the point. Diverse background and interest in Asia and Europe make him quintessentially cross-cultural, between modernist and experimental. His approach is integrative, not additive: Shape and meaning turn into a coherent One, getting to the essence with consistency and simplicity. Powerful fresh impact and surprise are delivered through energetic, percussive visual language and novel, unusual musical color.
Useful design need not be dry, and entertaining imagery not shallow.
Joachim's capabilities span across information design, logos and identity design, illustration and character creation, typography and typeface design, offering 30 years of experience in print media and 20 years in web and interface design. Clients include Netflix, SonyEricsson, Wired magazine, FontShop, Samsung America, Bank of America, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, USA Network, Panasonic, Reebok, Barclays Bank, Pentagram, Organic Online and more.
Past experience and career:
- As Lead Information Designer at Barclays Global Investors/Wells Fargo Nikko, San Francisco, Joachim art-directed and designed retirement and investment information in printed materials, interfaces of financial planning software and the company web site, the corporate identity, and conference presentations.
- As Principal of his own studio in Barcelona, work included exhibitions and catalogs in conjunction with the 1992 Olympics and other conventions, redesign of the shields of the city districts, and the graphic identity of the city's markets.
- As Senior Designer at The Understanding Business in San Francisco, he created cover designs, information design and layout concepts, illustrations and pictogram systems for the Pacific Bell SMART Yellow Pages.
To date, Joachim has designed 13 typefaces with 52 styles, available from Adobe Typekit, FontShop, DelveFonts, Linotype, Monotype and MyFonts. His typographic work in Latin and Kanji scripts has garnered 4 awards from the Morisawa International Type Design Competition, including the Gold Prize and two Judge's Prizes, as well as 4 Certificates of Excellence in Type Design from "bukva:raz!", ATypI's type design contest in collaboration with the UN.
Joachim has taught and lectured on information design and type design in the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. He has written for and was written up in leading design publications in the US, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, France, Germany and Belgium. His work is reproduced in over 20 professional books worldwide. He is a member of Association Typographique Internationale and of the Type Directors Club of New York.
Joachim graduated with honors from the Basel School of Design in Switzerland, having studied with Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart. At the Cooper Union School of Art, New York, he added studies in Video, Film and Painting.
"if you continue this simple practice everyday,
you will obtain some wonderful power.
before you attain it, it is something wonderful,
but after you attain it, it is nothing special."
shunryu suzuki: zen mind, beginners mind