Otl Aicher and Erik Spiekermann: both German designers with differing philosophies and approaches to making work, have come to leave a lasting mark in the history of graphic design. Although both work through the well-known international design principle of many European graphic designers, the two use the grid systems differently to take on designs. Through the comparison of their works, philosophy, and their lasting legacies that they’ve left for the future, a better understanding of Spiekermann’s being the more accomplished designer will be achieved. First and foremost, Erik Spiekermann is known in the design world as an extremely accomplished typographer who pioneered through the 90s into the new age of type designed for the mobile screen. His most notable typefaces out of the 471 he designed are Nokia sans, Berliner Grotesk, Officina, and most importantly Meta. Coined as the “Helvetica of the 90’s” the nickname in itself speaks as a backhanded compliment of being the glass goblet typeface that spoke levels of versatility and sophistication. Although a ¬designer of the time can really only understand the tag of it being a 90’s typeface, it’s a different case in Europe. In fact, like Helvetica is used repeatedly in the United States, FF Meta is used throughout Germany in the same fashion. Originally designed for the German post office with 28 different weights (FF Meta – Desktop Font), Spiekermann designed this typeface with Helvetica being the complete antithesis in mind, which is quite ironic with how it’s treated now. However, the end result speaks for itself since Meta has moved on to being one of the most famous typefaces in the history of graphic design. Granted Otl isn’t known as a type designer, he has designed one typeface for the public transport service of Munich (Font Designer – Otl Aicher). In comparison to Meta, it is similar in accomplishing