Paul Renner

https://m2.behance.net/rendition/pm/1103483/disp/042e0fd1eaae1c00efde4055e47a8430.jpg

Who: Paul Friedrich August RennerWhat: He was a Graphic Artist, Design teacher, Type designer, Author and Painter. He also became the principal of the Printing Trade School in Munich and the co-founder and director of the Master School for Germany Printers.
When: August 9, 1878 – April 25, 1956Where:  Wernigerode, Germany

Why: He was suspicious of abstract art and disliked many forms of modern culture, such as jazz, cinema, and dancing. But equally, he admired the functionalist strain in modernism. Renner can be seen as a bridge between the traditional (19th century) and the modern (20th century). He attempted to fuse the Gothic and the roman typefaces.How:He designed the Futura typeface, which became one of the most successful and most-used types of the 20th century. 

Summary- Paul Renner was a graphic designer, typographer, type designer, painter, and teacher. From 1908 to 1917 he designed books for a living for the Munich publishing trade. He was never directly affiliated with the bauhaus movement, in the early 1920's he became an advocate of its principles and became a leading proponent of the "New Typography".

Art or Design?
I definitely see Paul Renner's work as design. His work clearly shows subtle information which he has used in a way that it doesn't take your eye off the focal point of the image. The is also placed in a way that doesn't make the image look too busy or clustered. His work is influential as it has messages within it.