VLADIMIR YEFIMOV (6.5.1949–23.2.2012)

Vladimir Yefimov, art director of ParaType, the most outstanding and respected Russian type designer has died February 23, 2012 in hospital. He was only 62.

Type designer, theorist and teacher Vladimir Yefimov was born in Moscow in 1949. He got his education in Moscow Art School and in Moscow Printing Institute. Since 1973 till his last days he worked in Moscow as a type designer: at Type Department of NPO Polygraphmash (1973-91), at ParaGraph (1992-98) and at ParaType (1998–2012) where he took a position of an art director and where he was a co-founder.
Vladimir Yefimov is the author of many articles and the author and editor of books on typography and type design. To our deep regret his last work — series of albums “Great Typefaces” are left unfinished.
He was an excellent and authoritative educator. Almost all of the current Russian type designers are his followers, pupils or pupils of his pupils. He will stay in memories of current and former students by his lectures on type design at the Higher Academical School of Graphic Design and British Higher School of Art and Design.
Vladimir Yefimov was a participant of several exhibitions of type and book design in Moscow and a member of the jury of type contests, including 'bukva:raz!' — the type design competition of the ATypI (2001). He was awarded by the Grand Prize at the Golden Bee 3, a biennale of graphic design, on Typeface category (Moscow, 1996) and of the Typographic Excellence Certificate at the TDC2 (New York, 2000). He was a member of the Moscow Artists Union, a member of the Academy of Graphic Design, Moscow, and a member of the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI). His most known typeface designs are Pragmatica, Newton, AdverGothic, Petersburg, Octava, ITC Avant Garde Gothic Cyrillic, ITC Zapf Chancery Cyrillic, Futura Cyrillic, ITC Charter Cyrillic, Kis Cyrillic.

All his friends and colleagues are shocked by his sudden death. This is an immense loss to the global type community.

25.02.2012