Who is Wim Crouwel

Wim Hendrik Crouwel is an influential typeface designer who was born in Groningen in 1928. His most famous designs include New Alphabet, which was made up of only horizontal and vertical strokes, Fodor Alphabet, and Gridnik, which was an octagonal typeface made for a typewriter that was never released. The font "Atmosphere," by Jay Vidheecharoen was inspired by Wim Crouwel's New Alphabet, and Jonathan Hill's "LineWire" is an octagonal typeface based on Wim Crouwel's work. 

                                   

Deceased Designers: Max Bill

Max Bill worked as an architect, painter, graphic artist, and sculpturist in Zurich before becoming a product designer. His works took on their own independent character over time with his use of geometry and abstraction. He was very influential on designers and played a crucial role in the development of modern art.

Sources: http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/559, http://www.max-bill.com/

Deceased Designers: El Lissitzky

El Lissitzky was a Russian born designer, photographer, typographer, and architect who has continued to be a major influence on designers long after his death. He designed propaganda and exhibitions for the soviet union and was able to maintain his position as Head of Exhibitions under Stalin even when stricter regulations were put in place for designers.

source: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/

Deceased Designers: Robert Massin

Robert Massin was a French graphic designer born in 1925. He is internationally revered and well known due to his typographic experimentations. His works have been published internationally in books about the history of design, and Massin himself wrote over thirty books of his own.

source: http://www.designculture.it/interviews/robert-massin.html#start

Deceased Designers: Max Huber

Max Huber was born in Switzerland in 1919. He always worked as a freelance designer, and was able to find a balance between the needs of his clients and his need to experiment. He was particularly enthusiastic about his designs for jazz album covers and posters/publications for Jazz events.

source: http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Max-Huber/

Deceased Designers: Paul Rand

Paul Rand, born Peretz Rosenbaum, grew up in Brooklyn, New York as an orthodox Jew. He studied at the Pratt Institute and the Parsons School of Design. Rand taught design at Yale University and did design work for companies such as ABC, IBM, and UPS. He was inducted into the New York Art Directors Hall of fame in 1972.

Source: http://www.paul-rand.com/

Living Designers: Erik Speakermann

 Erik Speakermann is a German typographer and designer. He and his wife founded FontShop together, which was the first mail order distributer for digital fonts. Speakermann has also done work for majorly well-known clients such as Audi and Volkswagen. In 2007, he was the first designer to be elected into the European Design Awards Hall of Fame.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Spiekermann