Lists and rankings are great fun, especially if you hit the upper reaches of the charts! That’s exactly what John Morgan, Reading alumnus and visiting teacher on our MA Book Design programme, has achieved in the Wallpaper* list of Top Twenty Graphic Designers. ‘Culture’s go-to art director’ is the way it describes John, picking up on his work for AAFiles, Tate Britain, the Venice Architecture Biennale, HMS Victory, and countless art-related publishing projects. Also cited by Wallpaper* as an ‘influential editorial designer’ is the external examiner for our BA programme, Simon Esterson.
Category: media
Apple’s new system fonts
There is a good community of Typography graduates working at Apple, and in recent days we got a peek at what they’ve been working on. During the annual World Wide Developers Conference held in San Franscisco MATD graduate Antonio Cavedoni took to the stage to introduce the new system fonts for the Apple platforms.
The talk is an excellent overview of the work that typeface designers do “behind the scenes” to ensure the texts we read on our devices are readable and well-structured – and a superb introduction to the level of detail that typeface designers work every day.
Reading in Eye’s typography issue
The latest issue of Eye magazine, the international review of graphic design, is dedicated to typography and typeface design. The Department is very well represented in the issue: it includes an extensive profile of Fred Smeijers, long-time collaborator of Eric Kindel on research in stencil letterforms, and past External Examiner for the MA Typeface Design programme. Our graduate Paul Barnes wrote a tribute to James Mosley’s contributions to scholarship in typography, and Gerry Leonidas led Beyond Latin, a panel article on typeface design for global scripts featuring John Hudson, Neelakash Kshetrimayum, Kamal Mansour, and Pascal Zoghbi.
Gerard Unger interview in Type Journal
Eugene Yukechev’s Type Journal (or, natively, Журнал «Шрифт») continues to set a high standard for interviews drawing on extensive conversations and background research. The latest interview is of “our” Gerard Unger, and features some unseen treasures from Gerard’s archive.
Giving constructive feedback
Mariana Mota, Lead Interaction Designer at software and web apps company Oxford Computer Consultants, is writing a book on verbal communication and leadership for designers. Her first interview, on constructive feedback, was with Gerry Leonidas. An edited extract is on Talking Design.
This is not about fonts
Quartz just published an extensive report on the globalisation of the typeface design market and the impact on the communication sector, with support from Gerry Leonidas, alumnus David Březina, and a reference to MATD alumna Juliet Shen’s design for Lushootsheed.
Quartz’s post is another entry in a the growing list of articles in business and general interest publications about typefaces, evidence that awareness about the importance of typeface design is spreading to fields far outside the design sector.
A British national letter at Tate Britain
Professor James Mosley, an acute observer of letterforms in sensitive national settings, has published a short note on recent work completed for Tate Britain by Reading alumnus John Morgan and his studio.
You might also be interested in James’s earlier remarks on HMS Victory, the National Gallery, and Ten Downing Street.
Журнал «Шрифт» features the MATD
The notable Russian online journal «Шрифт» (“Type”) published a substantial interview of Gerry Leonidas, programme director of the MA Typeface Design. The interview, which focuses on Reading’s pioneering approach to typographic education, is accompanied by images of student work and moments from the Department captured by Evgenia Basyrova.
The original text of the interview, in English, is available on this page.
A new Papal Inscription in Westminster Cathedral
Typography alumna, Caroline Webb, has designed and installed a new Papal inscription for Westminster Cathedral, to commemorate the visit of Pope Benedict in 2010.
The 7 foot long inscription is made of one piece of Carrara Marble inlayed with letters of green and red Porphery and lies in the main entrance to the Cathedral.
The marble inlay was done by Pietra Dura craftsman Thomas Greenaway.The inscription took 2 years to design and produce, and a week to fix in the floor. The commission was technically challenging in every way; Caroline will be writing a full article to document its creation.
Yearbook of Type
Edited by the same team that publish the Slanted magazine, this substantial reference volume for new typefaces has just been published by Niggli. The volume presents typefaces in generous specimens, and includes a number of essays on typeface design. Amongst them, a detailed presentation of the MA Typeface Design programme. The impressively produced volume is available from Slanted’s shop.
