Rubén Fontana

 Rubén Fontana is an Argentine graphic designer, typographer, and educator. In his early career, he was part of the graphic design department at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella. For 40 years, he has been working at FontanaDiseño, a team specialising in brand identity, editorial design, and typography that he directs in association with Zalma Jalluf.

Rubén was part of the founding faculty of the graphic design programme at the Universidad of Buenos Aires, where he incorporated the teaching of typography and editorial design into the curriculum. He directed the Specialisation Course and Master’s Degree in Typography at the Universidad of Buenos Aires. He is currently a member of the teaching staff of the Diploma in Book Arts at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes.

Rubén founded and directed the specialised magazine tipoGráfica, which he edited for 20 years without interruption and which was distributed in America and Europe. He founded the Letras Latinas biennial and designed, among others, the typeface families Andralis, Chaco, Distéfano, Fontana, Palestina, and Estela.

Rubén has received multiple awards for his professional and academic work. He received the Konex Platinum Award for Design and Visual Communication on two occasions; the National Design Award of Cuba; the tribute of the Mexican Association of Schools of Graphic Design; the Award of the Association of Spanish Designers in the Corporate Identity and Typography category; the tribute and recognition of his educational work at the Sixth International Congress of Typography in Valencia, Spain; the recognition of his career as a typographic designer and educator by the Buenos Aires legislature; and the 2020 medal from the Type Directors Club of New York for his contribution to the field of typography.

In 2023, the University of Havana, Cuba conferred on him the academic status of Doctor Honoris Causa in Design. That same year, the Universidad Nacional de las Artes, Argentina also awarded Rubén the Doctorate Honoris Causa in Design.

Ruben has published Chaco with TypeTogether.


Website: www.fontana-d.com