Fernand Baudin (1918-2005) is a Belgian book designer, or “typographiste” as he likes to call himself. Baudin was an author, teacher and lecturer, active in organisations like the Rencontres de Lure and Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI). Next to an extensive correspondence with international designers of his time (Stanley Morison, Gerrit Noordzij, John Dreyfus… among many others), Fernand Baudin is the author of the books How Typography Works (and why it is important) and The Gutenberg Effect, and has written essays in Belgian and international periodicals (Arts et techniques graphiques, Cahiers GUTenberg, Letterletter, Visible Language) about typography and design. Loraine Furter, coordinator of the Fernand Baudin Prize- the Belgian Most Beautiful Books Prize will focus on a recurring topic in Baudins work: the evolution of writing and designing tools and their influence on communication and culture.