Emil Ruder (1914–1970) was a Swiss typographer, teacher and author. Having finished his apprenticeship as a typesetter in Zurich in 1933, Ruder spent a year in Paris before attending the Schule für Gestaltung Zürich where he studied type composition, letterpress printing, lettering, and book-design. He was appointed full-time teacher of typography at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel in 1942 and five years later became the school's head of the apprentices in the Applied Arts department. Ruder initiated the specialized class for letterpress printing and became a very influential and prominent educator. He was co-founder of the International Center for the Typographic Arts (ICTA) in New York in 1962, and director of the Schule für Gestaltung Basel from 1965. In 1968, Ruder initiated the international Advanced Program for Graphic Design, together with Armin Hofmann.

Helmut Schmid (1942–2018) was a graphic designer, author and teacher and one of the most renowned typographers of the 20th century. Born in Ferlach, Austria, as a German citizen, he was trained as a typesetter before attending typography classes at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel. After a brief stint at Ernst Roch in Montreal, Schmid went to Vancouver before moving to Osaka to work for Nippon International Agency (NIA). In 1971, he returned to Europe and worked at ARE agency designing publicity material for the Press Office of the German Government, for the German Social Democratic Party and the German chancellors Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt. In 1977, Schmid returned to Japan where he again worked for NIA, designing for Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. During his lifetime, Schmid has contributed numerous essays on typography to international magazines such as Typografische Monatsblätter, idea, baseline, and Novum.