Susanne Zippel (*1967), founder and CEO of MITTELPUNKT•ZHONGDIAN, first learned bookbinding and typesetting, before studying Communication Design at the University of the Arts in Berlin-Weißensee. She lived in Japan between 1991 and 1996, where she engaged in various internships in advertising agencies, discovered the secrets of Washi Papermaking and successfully completed schoolings in Sumi-e and Ukiyo-e (traditional Japanese painting and woodcutting). She was so enthusiastic about the similarities and differences of eastern and western cultures, that she based her diploma on her analysis of japanese TV-commercials.
Back in Germany, she has worked as an independent graphic designer at her own studio Logoß and lecturer for type design and typography. From 2006 onward she spent another five years in the Far East, living in the Chinese city of Suzhou, very close to Shanghai. It was there, that in 2009 she founded MITTELPUNKT•ZHONGDIAN, a consulting and design agency for visual corporate communication. Susanne Zippel is the author of a multiple award-winning book »Fachchinesisch Typografie« (so far, only available in German), which is the first book to comprehensively deal with the languages and writing systems of China, Japan and Korea (CJK), as well as the challenges they pose for designers. Formerly Linotype-blogger Florian Wittig states: »It is hard to believe what a broad range of expertise is covered by this book. So much information, that would have to be painstakingly drained from books and the Internet (and would still be incomplete!) all cumulated here, vividly explained while being well arranged. You really accomplished some pioneer work here!«
MITTELPUNKT•ZHONGDIAN is specialized in strategic brand design and adapting western corporate designs for the Far East market. Since 2011 the head office is based in Berlin. Because of the wide range of jobs and clients, such as Endress+Hauser, Siemens or Voith, it is not unlikely, that you may already have unconsciously faced her designs.
