Ueli Kaufmann, Design Historian. I research, write, speak, and teach on issues relating to the history of graphic design and typography.

My research interest lies in the history of design, its writing, and its intertwinement with economy, technology, and professional and cultural practices. With a sound knowledge of the history of typography, I am keen on exploring inter- and transdisciplinary questions and enjoy engaging with people across the humanities and beyond.

In my doctoral dissertation "Entangled histories: Swiss typography and the Moroccan script reform", I have explored intertwinements in the production and use of histories of typography. I particularly focused on their role in the negotiation of expertise in design, academia, business, and politics, as well as the consequent silencing of critique.

As part of the SNSF/Sinergia project Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited (SGDTR), I have extensively written on the role of practitioner-authored books in the dissemination of Swiss graphic design, on modernist design histories, on the portrayals of various scripts, and on ties between Swiss school handwriting and graphic design in the 1920s and 1930s.

Further, I conduct research on typographic styles and trade in type in the 16th century, as well as 20th century historiography on that matter. A respective article will be released in the Journal of the Printing Historical Society later this year.

• «Reconsidering Jacques Moderne through his italic types», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Journal of the Printing Historical Society, forthcoming.
• «The development of early italics from a Lyon, Basel, and Rhineland perspective», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Journal of the Printing Historical Society, Third Series 3 (2023), pp. 168–195 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Cave Paintings: Continuities and progress in designers’ histories», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann and Sara Zeller (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Tempting Terms, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2020, pp. 14–25 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Neue Schweizer Schulschrift: Tracing exchanges between modernist typography and Swiss handwriting», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann and Sara Zeller (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Tempting Terms, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 111–125 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Unfamiliar Writing Forms: Instances of various scripts in practitioners’ publications», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann and Sara Zeller (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Tempting Terms, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 169–198 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Handwriting Instructions», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Sandra Bischler, Sarah Klein, Jonas Niedermann and Michael Renner (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Visual Arguments, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 208–221 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Mixed lots», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Sandra Bischler, Sarah Klein, Jonas Niedermann and Michael Renner (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Visual Arguments, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 90–103 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Advertisements», Ueli Kaufmann and Sara Zeller, in: Sandra Bischler, Sarah Klein, Jonas Niedermann and Michael Renner (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Visual Arguments, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 12–21 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Chronological Diagram», Roland Früh and Ueli Kaufmann, in: Sandra Bischler, Sarah Klein, Jonas Niedermann and Michael Renner (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Visual Arguments, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 63–65 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Introduction—Reading between the lines of graphic design histories», Roland Früh, Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann, and Sara Zeller, Roland Früh, Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann, and Sara Zeller, in: Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann and Sara Zeller (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Tempting Terms, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 7–12 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Kunsthalle Bern: Graphic design as seen through the archive of a contemporary art institution», Roland Früh, Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann, and Sara Zeller, in: Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann and Sara Zeller (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Tempting Terms, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 79–91 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Schweizer Graphik—Curating Switzerland as a graphic design nation in 1925», Roland Früh, Ueli Kaufmann, Robert Lzicar, and Sara Zeller, in: Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann and Sara Zeller (eds.), Swiss Graphic Design Histories—Tempting Terms, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, 2021, pp. 140–151 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Umwege durch die Peripherie: Lyon, Basel und die Entwicklung der frühen Italics», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Librarium, Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Bibliophilen Gesellschaft, Vol. 63, No. 1, 2020, pp. 65–79 (accessible on academia.edu).
• «Froben Antiqua: mutilating masters for contemporary concepts», Ueli Kaufmann, in: Parenthesis: The Journal of the Fine Press Book Association, Vol. 34, No. 1, Spring 2018.
• «Printed Matter: The Formal Identity of a Local Institution for Contemporary Art in an International Network», Roland Früh, Ueli Kaufmann, Peter J. Schneemann, and Sara Zeller, in: Peter J. Schneemann (ed.), Localizing the Contemporary: The Kunsthalle Bern as a Model, JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2018, 138–154.
• The Design and Spread of Froben’s early Italics, Ueli Kaufmann, University of Reading, Reading (UK), 2015 (accessible on academia.edu).
• Nihad Veli Merve Sema Luan – Fünf junge Schweizer Muslime im Gespräch, Ueli Kaufmann, ZHdK, Zurich, 2011.

• «Designers claiming expertise: Pitfalls of research in service of practice», guest lecture, MA Typeface Design, ECAL, Lausanne 02/2026.
• «Verwickelte Geschichten: Schweizer Typografen und die marokkanische Schriftreform», guest lecture, Department of Design, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich 05/2024.
• «Questioning disciplinary views on revivals: a few inputs from the history of typography», Graduate School of the Arts Bern, University of Bern, Bern 03/2023.
• «Exchanges between modernist typography and Swiss school handwriting», Graphic memory: the many lives of letters, from handwriting to digital fonts and back, conference organized by Contextual Alternate, online, 08/2021.
• «Schweizer Grafikdesign: Konstruktion einer nationalen Ästhetik zwischen Ökonomie und Kultur», guest-lecture with Sara Zeller, Institute for Art History, University of Bern, Bern 03/2020.
• «Modernity, type and the ornament: Eight perspectives», MA Cross Lecture series, guest-lecture, ECAL, Lausanne 10/2019.
• «The Haas typefoundry in Africa: Economic pressure, new markets, and the prestige of development aid», Journées d’étude, Graphic Design and Cultural Diplomacy: Re-interpretations of an exhibition at the Musée Dynamique in Dakar […], HEAD, Geneva, 09/2019.
• «Entwicklungshilfe und Marktentwicklung: Die Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei und die Marokkanische Schriftreform», GSA Forschungstag, Graduate School of the Arts, University of Bern, Bern, 05/2019.
• «Ursprung oder Sündenbock: Der Topos des Ornaments im Schriftdiskurs der Moderne», guest-lecture, Institute for Art History, University of Bern, Bern, 05/2019.
• «‹And nothing starts in the archive, …› Archivgespräch #5», with Sara Zeller and Roland Früh, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, 08/2018.
• «Geschichtete Geschichten: Gedanken zur Froben Antiqua», Typographische Gesellschaft München, Gasteig München, 07/2018.
• «Continuities and Revolutions: The Rationale of Swiss Graphic Designer’s Histories», SGDTR Experts’ Panel Meeting, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, 05/2018.
• «Vorbilder und Beziehungsprobleme: Leitfäden eines Schriftgestaltungsprozesses», Schule für Gestaltung Basel, Basel, 06/2018.
• «A second-hand typographer? Design and use of Jacques Moderne’s italic types», international congress on Jacques Moderne, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Villeurbane (FR), 11/2017.
• «Hunzikers Aspekte der arabischen Schriftreform», GSA Forschungstag, Graduate School of the Arts Bern, University of Bern, Bern, 06/2017.
• «Das Grafikdesign der Kunsthalle Bern», guest-lecture with Sara Zeller and Roland Früh, Institute for Art History, University of Bern, Bern, 05/2017.
• «Sampling und Type Design», presentation, graduate colloquium of the Institute for Art History, University of Bern, Bern, 11/2016.

• «Go read a book: An introduction to research in typography», two-days workshop, ECAL, Lausanne, 02/2026.
• «Gestern und morgen in der Grafik der Gegenwart», undergraduate seminar, F+F Schule für Kunst und Design, Zurich (CH), 04–05/2024.
• «Einführung in Grafikdesigngeschichte als Kulturgeschichte», undergraduate seminar, BA MultiMediaArt, Fachhochschule Salzburg, 03–07/2021.

• Since 2021: Independent design historian
• 2016–2025: PhD, Institute of Art History, University of Bern, Bern (CH)
• 2016–2020: Research assistant, Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited (SGDTR), Hochschule der Künste Bern, Bern (CH)
• 2014–2015: Master of Arts in Typeface Design, University of Reading, Reading (UK)
• 2011–2020: Independent practice as graphic and typeface designer
• 2009–2011: Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zurich (CH)
• 2007–2009: Studies in Graphic Design, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag (NL)
• 2006–2007: Foundation year (Gestalterischer Vorkurs), Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Luzern, Luzern (CH)