Annenberg Professor Emeritus Klaus Krippendorff, an expert on human-focused design and content analysis, passed away on Oct. 10 after battling lymphoma.
In addition to serving as a Gregory Bateson professor of communication at Penn, Krippendorff was a lecturer, author, builder, sculptor, and activist. He helped advance the idea that communication shapes reality and influences the work of psychologists, social scientists, designers, and advertisers.
“He sought to create beauty through randomness and find the symmetry within chaos,” Krippendorff’s family wrote in a tribute in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
As a professor emeritus at Penn’s Annenberg School of Communication, Krippendorff’s research focused on the role of language in the “social construction of reality,” including identities, institutions, artifacts, and power. He also researched topics like semantics, practicalities of social interaction, and information theory.
Krippendorff graduated from the State Engineering School in Hanover, Germany, in 1954 before receiving a diploma in design from the Ulm School of Design in Germany in 1961. He later received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1967. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden.
Krippendorff joined Penn in 1964 as a research fellow, becoming an associate professor in 1970 and a full professor ten years later.
He had hundreds of his own works published in five main categories: Social Constructions of Reality, (Second Order) Cybernetics, Critical Scholarship, Content Analysis, and Design, according to the Annenberg School of Communication.
He received the International Communications Association (ICA) Fellows Book Award in 2004 for one of his many books, “Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology”, according to the Inquirer.
“He wanted everybody to live their best life,” a former student told the Inquirer. Donations in Krippendorff’s memory may be made to the Klaus Krippendorff Memorial Fund at the University of Pennsylvania.
A celebration of Krippendorff’s life will be held on Friday, October 28, in room 110 of the Annenberg School for Communication on Penn’s campus.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate