Heike Nehl studied Visual Communication at the FH Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, completing a thesis on contemporary British graphic design. In 1990, she began working at MetaDesign in Berlin, which was followed in 1993 by a period in the USA at MetaWest in San Francisco. At MetaDesign she met Sibylle Schlaich and worked with her on the wayfinding for the Berlin Public Transport Operator.
After founding Moniteurs communication design with Sibylle Schlaich and another partner in 1994, they focused their work on information design and wayfinding after a few years. The experience gained from working on numerous wayfinding projects—a selection : Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Hannover Airport, Zurich Airport, Kulturpalast Dresden, BMW FIZ Future, Merck group—and dealing with mobility projects has made her an expert in the field of information design.
Heike Nehl has taught at different design universities, Typography and Information Design at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and Interaction Design at the FH Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. In 2013 she taught as guest professor at the Chinese German Academy of the Arts in Hangzhou, China. She has given talks at conferences such as Creative Mornings, Typographic Design Munich, Day of Typography Bern, Dimensions of Mobility/Dessau, or at the Smart Airport conference in Singapore.
She is the co-author of the books "emotional digital—A Sourcebook of Contemporary Typographics", "Look Book Informationsdesign" and "1 : 1 Orientation, Signage, Identity". Sibylle Schlaich studied Visual Communication at the HfG University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd and at the Berlin University of the Arts, the diploma was the thesis on the use of renewable energies, visualised with data and information graphics.
She worked for MetaDesign in Berlin, where she met Heike Nehl and worked with heron the wayfinding for the Berlin Public Transport Operator. After founding Moniteurs communication design with Heike Nehl and another partner in 1994, they focused their work on information design and wayfinding after a few years. The experience gained from working on numerous way-finding projects—a selection : Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Munich Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Kunsthalle Mannheim, BMW plant Leipzig, Continental company—and dealing with mobility projects has made her an expert in the field of information design.
Since 2000, Sibylle Schlaich has taught in the fields of Information Design and Typography, among others at the Leibniz University in Hanover at Faculty of Architecture, at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and she has been a guest professor at the CDK, the Chinese German Academy of the Arts in Hangzhou. She has given numerous talks, such as at the international design conference TYPO Berlin, at Goethe Institute in Krakow, Poland or at the Nirma University in Ahmedabad, India.
She has also been a jury member of various selection panels. She is the co-author of the books "1 : 1 Orientation, Signage, Identity", "Look Book Informationsdesign", "emotional digital—A Sourcebook of Contemporary Typographics" and "Erneuerbare Energien nutzen".