Akira Kobayashi (小林 章, born 1960) is a Japanese font designer living in Germany. As type director for Monotype, he oversees typeface design and reprints of classic typefaces such as Optima. He has also served as a judge in several international typeface contests. He previously worked at 写研 [jp; zh] (Shaken), and later designed the European characters for Hiragino Mincho and AXIS Font. He is a leading person in designing Western typefaces in Japan, and has co-developed fonts with Hermann Zapf and Adrian Frutiger. Kobayashi grew up in Japan and has written a Japanese-language book about Western fonts, titled "西文字体" ("Western font").
His work has been profiled in Communication Arts magazine, Print Magazine featured him in an interview, as did Sony Design.
References
- "小林章 Type Director Asia Pacific". Monotype. (in Japanese). 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
- "001 | 小林章的西文字体". 知乎专栏 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2022-08-31.
- Haley, Allan. "Akira Kobayashi". Communication Arts. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- "Akira Kobayashi, Akko Pro, and Akko Rounded Pro". Print Magazine. July 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- Fukuhara, Hiroshige; Kobayashi, Akira. "SST Type Project Special Interview With Type Director Akira Kobayashi". Sony Design. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
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