Studied at Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Akira Kobayashi began his career as a type designer at Sha-Ken Co., Ltd. in 1983. After working for six years at Sha-Ken, he went to London in 1989 to study calligraphy and typography. On his return to Japan in 1990, he entered Jiyu-Kobo, Ltd. and engaged in designing and digitizing the Japanese fonts Hiragino Mincho and Hiragino Gothic until 1993. From 1993 to 1997 he worked for TypeBank Co., Ltd., where he designed Latin typefaces to accompany the foundry’s digital Japanese fonts. From 1997 to 2001 he worked as a freelance designer and won...