Department of Typography & Graphic COmmunication

Celebrating 50 years

Michael Twyman’s vision for a new academic discipline was driven by his perceived lack of synergy in the teaching of art and of design in the 1960s.  As a student in the School of Art at Reading he was inspired by courses in printing, book production, typography and print making as well as European ‘grand tours’ under direction of the art historian, Leopold Ettlinger. 

Many of the attributes of the early days were set out in an address by Michael Twyman’s address to the Wynkyn de Worde Society. We continue to use ‘design for reading’ to describe what we do. To design effectively for reading we need to know how people read and what makes it easier for them to see and engage with text; why people read raises user perspectives – reading for pleasure, learning or information; what people read encourages forays into the past to discover more about readers and document types.    

Michael Twyman wanted to work with brilliant people to teach and inspire students and to shape his new academic discipline. Cross-disciplinarity spanning history, theory and practice was a distinctive feature: letterforms and type; graphic design; printing and typesetting; book design; psychology; languages; history of the book and of reading.