Erhard Kaiser was born in Quedlinburg in 1957. After receiving his high school diploma, he studied at Leipzig’s Academy of Visual Arts. In 1984, Kaiser began working as a qualified freelance graphic designer while also taking on a post as a typographical design instructor at Berlin’s Fachschule für Werbung und Gestaltung (Technical College for Advertising and Design). In 1986 he became an assistant professor at the Karl Marx University in the field of art appreciation and typographical and book design. Six years later he switched to Leipzig University’s art appreciation department, where he coordinated artistic workshops devoted to typography (hot metal typesetting) and photography (both studio and photo laboratory work), in addition to his work as an instructor. From 1998 to 2005 he taught at the Muthesius Academy in Kiel.

In 1985, Kaiser won first prize in a design competition for original display type thanks to his Kleopatra typeface. Since 1992 he has worked as a designer for the DutchTypeLibrary which is specially geared towards the digital typography sector. His DTL Fleischmann, Prokyon and Antaris type families, which all appeared in the years between 1993 and 2006, have gone on to achieve global recognition.