A neon sign in Dresden was the beginning of it all. Above a former delicatessen, a cursive script stood out in typical 1970s style alongside bold block letters. It was an unusual, contradictory pairing that fascinated the young Jan Gerner, who had just returned to his hometown after nine years in Ethiopia. The contrast between these two voices became the driving force behind his career and the core of his typographic approach.
Today, he is known internationally under the name Yanone: as a type designer, developer of typographic tools, DJ, and critical thinker—all part of his identity as a multidisciplinary artist. His works, which are always emotional and personal at their heart, are characterized by a keen sense of cultural translation, visual dramaturgy and technological change.
His best-known typeface, the free Yanone Kaffeesatz, has become one of the most popular fonts worldwide over the years. His large-format mixed media installation “Sun Gate” was a stimulating highlight at various festivals from Egypt to South Africa. Nine radially arranged light axes pulsate in slow, random rhythms controlled by computer—a hypnotic, spatial experience between technology and ritual.
After studying visual communication at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, he went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Type and Media at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. There, he created Antithesis, a typeface that continues the original impulse: three radically different styles combined into a functional system of maximum contrast. This also resulted in the smallest superfamily in the world, consisting of only one font style per style. The work has received several awards, including a Certificate of Excellence from the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) and a Yellow Pencil from D&AD. An accompanying dance film set new standards in the field of art and type design.
Yanone has worked for Google, FontShop, Linotype, Bold Monday, GlyphsApp and Typotheque, among others. His skills extend far beyond type design: with font engineering tools such as Space Bar and Speed Punk, he has created tools that are now used in the training and practice of type designers worldwide.
After several years in Amman, Yanone now lives and works in Berlin again. The journey here—which began in front of a shop window in Dresden—was long and full of contrasts: geographical, creative, biographical. And yet it has consistently led him to where he is today: at the intersection of culture, technology and expression.