Zapf worked on typography for computer programs from the 1960s onwards. His ideas were considered radical, not taken seriously in Germany, and rejected by the Technische Universität Darmstadt, where he lectured from 1972 to 1981. Because he had no success in Germany, Zapf went to the United States, where he lectured about computerized typesetting, and was invited to speak at Harvard University in 1964. The University of Texas at Austin was also interested in Zapf and offered him a professorship, which he did not take, because his wife opposed a move to that state.