Max Körner (1883-1963) was a painter and German trademark designer. From 1913 to 1921 he was a teacher of visual design and crafts at the School of Applied Arts in Stuttgart. From 1921 he held a professorship at the State School of Applied Arts in Nuremberg and was director of the master class for applied graphics. From 1945 to 1948 entrusted temporarily to direct the Ellingen Academy until Fritz Griebel took over. Among his students was the painter Richard Lindner. He also published Monograms, Initials, Trademarks, Publisher’s Marks, Characters and Ornamental Letters (circa 1950), a collection of bold, modernistic examples of the Germanic style.
It is known that logos are never easy. Refining them is the trick. These logos and monograms run the gamut of precise to raw, elegant to clunky. But these distinctions are, possibly, in the eye of the beholder.
For more essays on typography, check out Steven Heller’s Texts on Type, which contains more than 50 important writings about the history, aesthetics, and practice on type design. And if you don’t have one already, be sure to order a copy of Alex W. White’s Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of Typography.