After leading his own print design studio in Germany for six years, Jens Gehlhaar enrolled at the graphic design program at California Institute of the Arts, where he graduated with an MFA in 1997. His graduate thesis was The CIA Compendium, an encyclopedic typeface system.
For the next three years, he worked as a freelance art director, graphic and type designer for Wieden+Kennedy, ReVerb, Imaginary Forces, Razorfish, Mike Mills, David Carson, Dreamworks and ESPN. His most prominent projects included the design of the launch print campaign for Microsoft Windows 98, the 1998–2001 network graphics package for ESPN X Games, as well as exclusive typeface designs for the Steven Spielberg movie “Minority Report”, for David Carson’s “Metropolis” magazine design, and for the IBM e-business Centers.
From 1998–2001, he taught upper level typography, type design and motion typography at California Institute of the Arts and Art Center College of Design.
In 2001, he joined bicoastal Brand New School as Creative Director, where he has co-directed campaigns for Volkswagen, Apple, Toyota, Vodafone and Budweiser. He has been responsible for the network identities of VH1 Classic, Fox Fuel and IMF; as well as the typography of campaigns such as UPS, AT&T and American Express; and packaging for MTV Sunday Stew and MTV2 Sic’em Friday. He has also written and directed dozens of live action station identifiers for VH1 Classic, Fox Fuel and IMF, as well as a music video for the British band Muse.
Among other awards, he has received a Sports Emmy for television graphics, an ADC Gold Medal for live action direction, a TDC award for type design and an MVPA award for Special Effects.