Will Burtin was trained as a typographer from 1922 to 1927 and studied design at the Kölner Werkschulen from 1927 to 1930. He worked in graphic design and exhibition display in Germany from 1930 to 1938, then went to the United States and set up a design studio in New York. He taught advanced design at the Pratt Institute from 1939 to 1943, and worked for the Us Air Force and the Office of Strategic Services until 1945, when he was appointed art director of Fortune magazine. In 1949 he decided to devote all his time to his own practice. He has been design consultant to The Upjohn Company since 1948, was program chairman of the International Design Conference in Aspen, 1955 and 1956, and chairman of the first world seminar on typography at Silvermine, 1958. He was appointed Professor of Design and chairman of the Department of Visual Communication at the Pratt Institute in 1959.