Jiří Beran (Toman)
Graphic designer, type designer, violinist, and passionate cyclist. Born in 1987 in Liberec, he studied Graphic Design at the Faculty of Art and Design at UJEP in Ústí nad Labem under Professor Karel Míšek. In 2009–2010, he completed an exchange programme in Communication Design at HTW Berlin. Between 2012 and 2016, he pursued a PhD in Visual Communication at FUD UJEP, after which he spent four years as an assistant professor in the Department of Visual Communication, also leading the type design studio.
His work spans a wide spectrum of visual communication, with a strong focus on typography, typeface design, pictographic systems, and visual identities. In 2009, he and Michal Kukačka won a public, anonymous competition for the logo and visual identity of the University of Hradec Králové, which was based on their custom typeface, Gradec. This achievement earned them a nomination for the Czech Grand Design Award the same year. His PhD research centred on the history of Czechoslovak type design, combining theoretical study with practical work, including the digital restoration of historical typefaces such as Kolektiv, originally designed by Josef Týfa, Stanislav Duda, and Karel Míšek Sr.