Type Design Duo to Receive RIT's Prestigious Goudy Award

Creators of Glyphs font editing software recognized for groundbreaking contributions to digital typography.

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has announced that type designers Georg Seifert and Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer will receive the 2026 Frederic W. Goudy Award, a prestigious honor celebrating outstanding practitioners in type design and related fields. Seifert and Scheichelbauer are the originators of Glyphs, a font editing software praised for its accessibility and support of digitally-disadvantaged writing systems.

Why it matters

The Goudy Award is a significant recognition in the type design community, and Seifert and Scheichelbauer's work with Glyphs has had a profound impact on the field of digital typography. Their software has made it easier for designers to create high-quality typefaces, particularly for scripts that have historically been underserved by mainstream font editing tools.

The details

Seifert and Scheichelbauer will accept the 2026 Goudy Award during a public presentation at RIT on April 10, 2026. The two co-founders of Glyphs are known for their focus on supporting digitally-disadvantaged writing systems, such as Arabic, Devanagari, and other Indic scripts, which have traditionally faced complex challenges in font design. Glyphs has been praised for its innovative approaches to letter and diacritic positioning, as well as its responsiveness to user feedback.

  • Seifert and Scheichelbauer will receive the 2026 Goudy Award on April 10, 2026.
  • They will lead a series of workshops for RIT students on April 11, 2026.

The players

Georg Seifert

Type designer known for the popular typeface families Graublau Sans and Graublau Slab, as well as co-developing the Berlin airport's typeface. He is the co-founder of Glyphs, a font editing software.

Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer

Co-founder of Glyphs, the font editing software. He studied photography, philosophy, and Dutch before helping Glyphs become a game-changer in the digital typography industry. He also started his own font foundry, Schriftlabor, in 2014.

Steve Matteson

Melbert B. Cary Professor in Graphic Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Design. As part of his responsibilities, he selected Seifert and Scheichelbauer as the 2026 Goudy Award recipients.

Chuck Bigelow

Pioneer of digital type design who was honored with RIT's Frederic W. Goudy Award in 1987. His lecture at the award ceremony inspired Steve Matteson to pursue a career in type design.

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What they’re saying

“It doesn't make sense to design Arabic in anything but Glyphs.”

— Sahar Afshar, Iranian typeface designer and researcher (Glyphs website)

“When I was looking into a font design tool, one main thing was that letters will never be alone. They are always in words. That is the basic idea — you draw inside that context.”

— Georg Seifert (rit.edu)

“Constant contact with users is super important to us, and seeing how they use the software.”

— Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer (rit.edu)

What’s next

Following the Goudy Award presentation, Seifert and Scheichelbauer will lead a series of workshops open to all RIT students on Saturday, April 11, 2026.

The takeaway

Seifert and Scheichelbauer's pioneering work with Glyphs has made significant strides in democratizing font design, particularly for writing systems that have historically been underserved by mainstream typography tools. Their recognition with the prestigious Goudy Award underscores the profound impact they have had on the field of digital typography.