Ahn has long been one of the most influential designers in East Asia. His typographical development work in his native Korea has almost made him a household name. He has enjoyed a long career as a designer and educator. He graduated from Seoul’s Hongik University, where he has been 20 years a professor. Ahn retired from his alma mater on his age 60, started independant design school PaTI, Paju Typography Institute in Paju Bookcity. He holds a commendation by the Korean Language Academy for his valuable contribution to the advancement of Hangeul (Ahn has four major Korean fonts to his credit). As early as 1983, he was selected as designer of the year by Design magazine. He is also editor/art director of the underground art–culture magazine Report/Report (1988–2000). From 1997–2001, Ahn was vice-president of Icograda. In October 2000 he chaired Icograda’s prestigious millennium congress ‘Oullim 2000’, held in Seoul. In 2001, he organized ‘Typojanchi’, an international typography biennale held in Seoul. He received Gutenberg Prize from Leipzig 2007.