In 1979 Julian began extensive studies with the  legendary German type designer Hermann Zapf. In 1984 Zapf asked the 27 year old Julian to substitute and teach his two-week masterclass at Rochester Institute of Technology and in 1989 Waters succeeded Zapf in teaching the annual course.He is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Typeface Studies at RIT. 

For several years he combined the disciplines of calligraphy and digital design in  “Letterform Design”, a core class for 2nd year Graphic Design students at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC.

In 1981 Waters went to work with Gerard Valerio at Bookmark Studio in Washington DC, specializing in logo and publication design.
In 1984 Waters opened his own studio in Capitol Hill and later moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

Waters' work includes logos, posters, CD packaging, titling for books and publications. He works with design studios, publishers and ad agencies on projects which may be enhanced by the warmth and refinement of calligraphy and hand lettering.

Among his many clients are the U.S. Postal Service, for which he has produced lettering for books, posters and stamps, including “Bill of Rights” stamp and “Love” envelope and the multi-year, multi-sheet “Legends of American Music” series. Julian has produced distinctive titling lettering for National Geographic Magazine on and off for 20 years. He is the only 20th century lettering designer to have been featured in a "Behind the Scenes" full page photo profile in the Magazine (late 1999). 

Julian's work is represented in many books on calligraphy and type, and he has received awards for the Type Directors Club, Art Directors Club, Print Magazine, Letter Arts Review Annual (four years in a row Waters had the most entries accepted in that annual).

 He has been featured on television in the U.S. and abroad, including the Emmy Award-winning segment entitled “Man of Letters”, on a Sunday morning magazine show. Recent logos include Amtrak Vacations, Pfizer 150, Visaphone and MCI WorldPhone. Recent diverse projects include custom lettering design workfor Barry Moser's acclaimed limited edition Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, including raised gold leaf work on 50 special copies.

Waters was a typographic advisor to Maya Lin during the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. He was the typographic designer for the new Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. In 1997 Adobe Systems released his new Multiple Master typeface, Waters Titling. View at 

http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/p/p_442html 

He has also done custom corporate alphabet design, including a  recent corporate font for Host Marriott Services.

Waters has been a juror for several international design and calligraphy exhibitions and annuals and has been invited to teach and lecture widely in the U.S., Canada, England, Europe, Hong Kong and Japan. Recently he was a featured speaker at the Society for Environmental Graphic Design Conference, Washington DC.

He has participated in many international exhibitions and has had one-man shows in Washington DC, Norway and Iceland. In 1997, a major exhibition of his work was shown at the Sidwell Friends School, including more than 80 works. 

Julian was honored as the 1997 Rubenstein Memorial Guest Artist.Previous guest artists have included Fritz Eichenberg, Sam Gilliam and Leonard Baskin.