Thomas Manss
Thomas Manss (* 1960 in Gütersloh ) is a German graphic designer and art director. 2002 him the British newspaper Independent on Sunday resulted in their list of the top ten graphic designers in Britain. He lives and works in London and Berlin.
Life and work
Manss was born as the son of an architect pair. He attended the Evangelical Stiftische School Gütersloh, studied visual communication at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg and began his career with Erik Spiekermann's MetaDesign in Berlin, where he among other things, was involved in the development of the control system of the Berlin Transport Authority. From 1985 he was in charge at Sedley Place Design Design programs for clients such as Volkswagen, Schering, the German Federal Post Office and the German Federal Bank.
In 1989 he moved to London agency Pentagram Design and worked together with Alan Fletcher on logos for Scandinavian Airlines, the Barbican Centre and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. For the newly built by Norman Foster Stansted Airport with Fletcher, he created the signage system. He was appointed Associate in 1992 and was responsible for the development of a new corporate identity for Shilla Hotels in Korea, exhibition design for the British Design Council as well as a competition entry for the new appearance of the capital Berlin.
In 1993, Thomas Manss his own design office Manss Thomas & Company in London. After three years teaching at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam as a guest lecturer for corporate identity followed in 1996 by the establishment of a second office in Berlin. His clients include the British loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins, Hotel Arts Barcelona, the Meoclinic in Berlin, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, The British Museum and London's National Portrait Gallery, the accounting firm Deloitte, the furniture manufacturer Vitsœ and the International Design Center Berlin.
His reputation is reflected in numerous publications and awards of the work in Germany, Great Britain, Holland and Russia and on the Graphic Design Biennial in Brno. Thomas Manss is a member of the British Art Directors Club D & AD, the Society of Typographic Designers, and was appointed in 1994 a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and 1996 Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Manss has worked for numerous international architects. He created appearances, work books and guidance systems, among others Foster Partners, Nicholas Grimshaw, John McAslan Partners, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando and sensationalist Jehle. He also took over the label of the permanent exhibition in the Berlin Reichstag and created a wide range of books for Norman and Elena Foster. For the book Foster 40 for forty years of the architect Thomas Manss & Company received various design awards such as the iF Design Award, an award of the most beautiful German books as well as a nomination for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2010.
Publications
- Rules & Eccentricity, Gestalten Verlag Berlin ( 2002), ISBN 978-3-931126-81-0
- Thomas Manss & Company, av edition Ludwigsburg (2008), ISBN 978-3-89986-089-4