After his graduation, Smeijers worked for Océ – a Dutch manufacturer of printing and copying hardware. Between 1986 and 1990, he worked at the Océ's industrial design department as a typographic advisor, designing typefaces for early laser printers. In the mid-1980s Smeijers started to develop an interest in the early 16th century technique of punchcutting. The insights he acquired from these experiments influence the way he designs typefaces. This became first apparent in his typefaceFF Quadraat, a classic book typeface with interesting and innovative details. Other Smeijers' retail typefaces are FF Quadraat Sans, FF Quadraar Display, FF Quadraat Headliner, and FF Quadraat Mono ; Renard, Nobel ; Arnhem, Arnhem Display, Arnhem Fine, Fresco, Fresco Sans, Fresco Informal, Custodia, Sansa, Monitor, Ludwig, Puncho, Bery, Bery Roman, and Bery Tuscan ; Haultin, Lyonnaise, Gantoise, Sloan, Lambrusco. Smeijers has also designed custom typefaces and iconic logos for Philips, Canon-Europe, TomTom, Samsung, Porsche, among others. Public architectural lettering projects include the IJsei terminal in Amsterdam for Benthem Crouwel Architects and city of Amsterdam. Smeijers is a research fellow at Plantin Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Professor of Type Design at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig, at the University of Reading, and at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague. In 2000 Smeijers received the prestigious Gerrit Noordzij Prize, awarded by The Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague to honor innovations in typeface design and outstanding contribution to type education and writing. In 2016, Smeijers received the Typography Award from the Society of Typographic Aficionados. Smeijers was formerly a founding partner of OurType, with entrepreneur Rudy Geeraerts and typographer Corina Cotorobai, stepping down as the foundry's artistic director in 2017. In 2019 Fred Smeijers and Corina Cotorobai partnered to establish a new font publishing label Type By. Smeijers is the author of Counterpunch and Type Now, Hyphen Press, London.
Publications
Fred Smeijers, Counterpunch, making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now, Hyphen Press, London,
Fred Smeijers, Les Contrepoinçons : Fabriquer des caractères typographiques au XVIe siècle, dessiner des familles de caractères aujourd'hui, B42, Paris,
Fred Smeijers, Contrapunçao : fabricando tipos no século dezesseis, projetando tipos hoje, Estereográfica,
Fred Smeijers, Kaunta panchi : Jurokuseiki no katsuji seisaku to gendai no shotai dezain, Musashino University Press, Tokyo,
Fred Smeijers, Type Now, Hyphen Press, London,
Fred Smeijers et al., Vom Buch auf die Straße, HGB Academy of Book Arts, Leipzig,
Fred Smeijers, Julia Blume, Ein Jahrhundert Schrift und Schriftunterricht in Leipzig, HGB Academy of Book Arts, Leipzig,
Fred Smeijers, Karbid : Berlin, de la lettre peinte au caractère typographique, Ypsilon Editeur, Paris,
