Great Teachers Never Die

Several Weeks ago, I received word that Wolfgang Weingart had passed away. In 2005, I made the journey to Basel to take his last Typography class in the Advanced Programs at the Basel School of Design. It was inspirational from an education perspective. Recognizing that I would never be as influential a designer as this great teacher also pushed me to pursue a career as a user experience designer. My hope as an educator is that I can inspire students to pursue the work of design in a serious manner.

In an article from TM (Typographische Monatsblätter) magazine Wolfgang says, “School for me is a serious place where you undertake research. Very interesting research.” Basel had been an inspiration to me since my earliest days at the Institute of Design. Seeing the elemental books on sketching and design studies provided the reinforcement to pursue the basics in a structured, disciplined manner. The Film + Design book by Peter Von Arx was purchased at the Kroch and Brentano’s bookstore in Chicago as a student. It demonstrated this structure. Several years later in Basel I bought a replacement from Peter at a party on the docks near the Dreiländereck. Students in the old Basel program studied from morning until night. But, there was always time for fun.

During an afternoon in class, Wolfgang walked up to me and said, you look like you want a glass of wine. I agreed. He walked away, popped a bottle of red, and brought me a glass. The students looked on in confusion. Wolfgang was very serious, but a very inspired and human teacher. He used simple tools to teach the most complex of crafts — typography. Great teachers don’t die. They live on through their students.