Alexander Branczyk and Thomas Nagel are the founders of xplicit ffm, based in Frankfurt. Both studied visual communications at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach. Their careers have run in parallel – after graduating, they moved to Berlin, joined MetaDesign, worked for FontShop, Berthold, Zanders and the public transport authorities of Berlin and Postdam.
Branczyk lives in planes and trains between Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich. In 1992 he became art director of the techno-house magazine Frontpage, which became a forum for experimental layout and type design. He is also art director for Sense and Camel Silver Pages, both related to the German techno scene.
Nagel lives in Frankfurt, where he works for Linotype-Hell, a clubwear label Bad & Mad, the mail order house
Topdeq and other clients mainly in the print sector. In 1994 Branczyk and Nagel started to publish their experimental font collection Face2Face featuring more than 100 fonts that challenge possibilities of legibility and PostScript.