Structural differences between the Persian (top) and Urdu (bottom) flavours of the Nasta’liq style

TDi 2024 | Practice masterclass and research working seminar

27 February 2024

Announcing the 2024 intensive summer course in typeface design: one week of a multiscript masterclass, and one week of a research-focused working seminar. Read more… Read more

Testing beyond Covid: Our point of use instructions at IIID Vision Plus 2023

6 June 2023

At the 2023 IIID Vision Plus conference, Josefina gave a presentation about her, Sue Walker, and Al Edwards’s work on the project ‘Information Design for… Read more

Design that cares? – IIID Vision Plus Conference 2023

6 June 2023

Healthcare was the theme for the 2023 IIID Vision Plus Conference, held in the Design Forum in Vienna. Rachel and Josefina gave a joint talk… Read more

User-friendly point-of-use instructions for home use diagnostic tests: guidance and tools

16 January 2023

Sue Walker and Josefina Bravo have produced guidance in the form of a toolkit and a dataset for the design of instructions to support home… Read more

Rachel Warner and Emily Allbon presenting with presentation slide in the background

Freeing Liberty through information design

13 July 2022

This July, Rachel Warner and Emily Allbon presented their project ‘Freeing Liberty through information design’ at the International Conference on Typography and Visual Communication (ICTVC). Their… Read more

Looking at women looking at themselves being looked at

22 June 2022

9 June – 9 September 2022 This exhibition, now open in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, explores the concept of the male gaze… Read more

Ed Fella: Exit Level Design, 1985–2012

1 February 2022

Ed Fella: Exit Level Design, 1985–2012, an exhibition in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication surveying the experimental graphic practice of the American designer,… Read more

Experimental publishing and new archival initiatives

13 January 2022

This online event on 27 January at 5pm is free and open to all. Search ‘Experimental publishing reading 2022’ for details Read more

13 July: a celebration of letterforms and ephemera

3 July 2019

We are holding a one-day symposium on Saturday 13 July, where world-class experts in design research, teaching, and practice will discuss ways of positioning ephemera… Read more

Bodil Mostad Olsen and research poster

Postgraduate research communication success

20 June 2019

Congratulations to postgraduate researcher Bodil Mostad Olsen who has won the University’s prize for research communication in a poster competition, held as part of the… Read more

20th-century Persian newspaper types: investigating the design process

13 March 2019

An exhibition exploring the design process of the most significant twentieth-century Persian newspaper types. Read more

Engineering template for Tamil characters

Facing the world

3 January 2019

‘Facing the World: Towards a Global History of Non-Latin Type Design’ is a special issue of Philological Encounters, edited by Thomas S. Mullaney of Stanford… Read more

Research introductions

14 November 2018

Alison Black, Jeanne Louise Moys, Sue Walker, Gerry Leonidas and Eric Kindel showcased a range of research projects, past and present, to give Part 1… Read more

One letter at a time

1 November 2018

Vaibhav Singh’s exhibition on non-keyboard ‘index’ typewriters ran in the Department in late 2018. Check out all the details at Contextual Alternate. Read more

Science communication for children

1 October 2018

A new AHRC-funded project begins today. Transforming science for young people: Marie Neurath and Isotype books for children aims to find new audiences for the… Read more

Activity in Antwerp

17 September 2018

Our use of the Lettering, Printing and Graphic Design Collections in the Typography Department, and our distinctive approach to collections-based research, was exceptionally well demonstrated… Read more

Women in Type

12 April 2018

‘Women in type: a social history of women’s role in type-drawing offices, 1910–90’ is a new three-year research project now underway in the Department, funded… Read more

Michael Twyman

Professor Michael Twyman on forms design and the history of forms

1 December 2017

(Cross posting from Centre for Information Design Research) We are delighted to be able to point you to a video of one of a series… Read more

Breaking down Barriers wins CIOB award for innovation

8 March 2017

Breaking down Barriers (BdB) – our multidisciplinary inclusive design project – has received a Highly Commended Award for Innovation in Education and Training in the 2016… Read more

A Partnership for Ephemera Studies

13 January 2017

Typography is very pleased to announce an exciting new Goodwill Partnership between the Centre for Ephemera Studies (one of our research centres) and the John… Read more

Isotype at the Science Museum

8 December 2016

The Department has made a long-term loan of Isotype work to the Science Museum, London. The loans are featured in the museum’s new Mathematics gallery,… Read more

Have you thought about doing a PhD in Typography?

15 November 2016

Our experienced supervisors welcome applications in the history, theory and practice of design for reading. Here are some of our recent and current PhD topics… Read more

Material histories: Centennial Exhibition stencil

28 October 2016

In the last in a series of posts about artefacts in the exhibition ‘Material histories’ (now on in the Department), Eric Kindel tells the story of a stencil… Read more

Looking at children’s reading books

8 January 2016

A collections-based research exhibition about typography and illustration in books for teaching reading from the 1880s to the 1960s.   Monday 11 January 2016 to Friday… Read more

Heritage and creativity: new lettering for HMS Victory

7 October 2015

The name of HMS Victory, launched in 1765, the oldest ship of the Royal Navy that is still in commission, has been repainted. The name… Read more

Typography tops the bill in the REF

18 December 2014

Typography & Graphic Communication is proud to have achieved the highest GPA score (3.51) in UoA 34 (Art and Design: History, Practice, Theory), and the… Read more

Successful undergraduate summer research project

7 December 2014

Congratulations go to Part 3 students, Mel Towriss and Peter Loveland (pictured above) who, over the summer, took part in the University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity… Read more

Launch of dementia carers’ handbook

29 September 2014

Last week saw the launch of the Berkshire Healthcare handbook for carers of people with dementia. The handbook is the product of a joint research… Read more

Doing a PhD at Reading

3 June 2014

Titus Nemeth submitted his PhD thesis in 2013, on the evolution of Arabic type-making under the influence of changing technologies. The thesis spans the period… Read more

CIDR out and about

2 October 2013

The Department’s Centre for Information Design Research (CIDR) has popped up in a couple of places on the web, recently. You can see a talk… Read more

50% chance of rain

25 July 2013

Typography & Graphic Communication student, Matt Standage, has been working together with Meteorology student, Rachel Bartlett and Psychology student, Shyamali Abraham on a joint project… Read more

Fabula – a typeface for children

28 March 2013

Fabula is gaining popularity for use in resources for children, both on paper and on screen. The typeface was designed under Sue Walker’s direction by… Read more

News from Departmental alumna, Carla Spinillo

13 March 2013

Carla Spinillo (pictured above) who carried out her PhD research, on the design of visual instructions, in the Department writes of the success of her work,… Read more

Colloquium upcoming: ‘Printed image and decorative print, 1500–1750’

4 March 2013

On Friday March 22, Eric Kindel and James Mosley will contribute papers to the one-day colloquium ‘Printed image and decorative print, 1500–1750’ being convened by… Read more

CIDR in the media

27 February 2013

A collaboration with Post Office and Freeview on research examining people’s comprehension of broadband and TV providers’ web sites was picked up by the media last… Read more

CIDR collaboration with Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team

4 February 2013

Centre for Information Design Research have just completed a collaborative project with the Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team to develop a pack to support job… Read more

‘Isotype revisited’ in Vienna

29 January 2013

Members of the ‘Isotype revisited’ team, Christopher Burke, Eric Kindel, Michael Twyman and Sue Walker, participated in an interdisciplinary symposium and workshop at the invitation… Read more

Railways under London

9 January 2013

The London Underground celebrates 150 years today. One of the best representations of the London Underground was a book for children, Railways under London by… Read more

Info design for children

28 November 2012

Isotype children’s books on the Eye blog Examples from the Otto and Marie Neurath Isotype Collection.     Read more

Using collections in research

14 November 2012

            Just published in the Journal of Design History, a paper by Sue Walker based on material in the Otto… Read more

Type design and inter-disciplinary innovation

28 September 2012

The Musée de l’imprimerie in Lyons is hosting ‘La lettre à l’heure des révolutions technologiques’, an exhibition about typeface design and technological revolutions throughout the… Read more

Type in Europe

26 September 2012

James Mosley and Alice Savoie are contributors to a new book published to coincide with the Congrès des Musées Européens de l’Imprimerie in Lyon. James… Read more

Collaborative type design in Adobe Creative Suite 6

11 May 2012

The new Creative Suite 6 will ship with a Devanagari typeface in two weights, designed collaboratively by Tim Holloway, Fiona Ross and John Hudson. The… Read more