Margaret Calvert

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Margaret Vivienne Calvert
Born (1936-05-12) 12 May 1936 (age 88)
NationalityBritish
Education St Paul's Girls' School, London
Alma mater Chelsea College of Arts, London
Occupation(s)Typographer and graphic designer
Years active1957–present
Known forDesign of road signs in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories.
Notable work
Awards Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Margaret Vivienne Calvert [1] OBE RDI (born 1936) is a British typographer and graphic designer who, with colleague Jock Kinneir, designed many of the road signs used throughout the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies, and British Overseas Territories, as well as the Transport font used on road signs, the Rail Alphabet font used on the British railway system, and an early version of the signs used in airports. The typeface developed by Kinneir and Calvert was further developed into New Transport and used for the single domain GOV.UK website in the United Kingdom. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in South Africa, Calvert moved to England in 1950, where she studied at St Paul's Girls' School and the Chelsea College of Art. Kinneir, her tutor there, asked her to help him design the signs for Gatwick Airport. They chose the black on yellow scheme for the signs after researching the most effective combination. [3] They also designed luggage labels for P & O Lines in 1957. [4] [5]

Career

In 1957, Kinneir was appointed head of British signs for Britain's roads. He then hired Calvert [6] to redesign the road sign system and she came up with simple, easy-to-understand pictograms, including the signs for 'men at work' (a man digging), 'farm animals' (based on a cow named Patience that lived on a farm near to where she grew up), and 'schoolchildren nearby' (a girl leading a boy by the hand, which she said were actually modelled after herself), using the European protocol of triangular signs for warnings and circles for mandatory restrictions. [7] The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government in July 1963 to review signage on all British roads.

In addition to her road signs, Calvert has designed commercial fonts for Monotype, including the eponymous Calvert font, a slab serif design which she created in 1980. It originated in a 1970s proposal to the French new town of Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines for a new font to provide a visual identity for the town. However, the slab-serif typeface and three-dimensional letter shapes were rejected. [5] The font was later adopted by the Tyne and Wear Metro system as well as north-east England bus and ferry services in the 1980s. [8]

In 2020 a new version of the font used in the UK rail system was introduced, Rail Alphabet 2. It was designed in collaboration with Henrik Kubel. [9]

Calvert taught at the Royal College of Art for almost 40 years and was head of graphics from 1987 to 1991. [5]

Recognition

Calvert was awarded an honorary degree by the University of the Arts London in 2004. [10]

She appeared on the fourteenth season of the famous motoring show, Top Gear on 3 January 2010. James May interviewed her in a 2009 Vauxhall Insignia VXR, talking about the design process of the UK road signs. [11]

She was made a Royal Designer for Industry for Graphic Design in 2011. [12] In 2015, she was presented with the D&AD President's Award. [13]

Calvert was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to typography and road safety. [1] [14] [15]

In June 2018 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Arts University Bournemouth alongside dancer Darcey Bussell, costume designer Jenny Beavan OBE and director and screenwriter Edgar Wright. [16]

A retrospective exhibition of her work, Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work, [9] was held from 21 October 2020 till 10 January 2021 at the Design Museum in London. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traffic sign</span> Signboard displaying information for road users

Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduced, for example the fingerposts in the United Kingdom and their wooden counterparts in Saxony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darcey Bussell</span> British ballerina and television personality (born 1969)

Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; is a retired English ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rail Alphabet</span> Neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface

Rail Alphabet is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for signage on the British Rail network. First used at Liverpool Street station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit (DRU) as part of their comprehensive 1965 rebranding of the company. It was later used by other public bodies in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street name sign</span> Type of traffic sign used to identify named roads

A street name sign is a type of traffic sign used to identify named roads, generally those that do not qualify as expressways or highways. Street name signs are most often found posted at intersections; sometimes, especially in the United States, in perpendicularly oriented pairs identifying each of the crossing streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport (typeface)</span> Road sign typeface used in the United Kingdom

Transport is a sans serif typeface first designed for road signs in the United Kingdom. It was created between 1957 and 1963 by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert as part of their work as designers for the Department of Transport's Anderson and Worboys committees.

Herbert Spencer was a British designer, editor, writer, photographer and teacher. He was born in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Kindersley</span>

David Guy Barnabas Kindersley MBE was a British stone letter-carver and typeface designer, and the founder of the Kindersley Workshop. His carved plaques and inscriptions in stone and slate can be seen on many churches and public buildings in the United Kingdom. Kindersley was a designer of the Octavian font for Monotype Imaging in 1961, and he and his third wife Lida Lopes Cardozo designed the main gates for the British Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions is the law that sets out the design and conditions of use of official traffic signs that can be lawfully placed on or near roads in Great Britain and the Isle of Man. The regulations, originally introduced in 1965, were the result of the review of British road signage carried out by the Worboys Committee.

Richard "Jock" Kinneir was a British typographer and graphic designer who, with his colleague Margaret Calvert, designed many of the road signs used throughout the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies, and British overseas territories. Their system has become a model for modern road signage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorway (typeface)</span> Sans-serif typeface

Motorway is a sans-serif typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for use on the motorway network of the United Kingdom. Motorway was first used on the M6 Preston bypass in 1958 and has been in use on the UK's motorways ever since. The typeface is also used in some other countries, most notably Ireland and Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Design Research Unit</span> British design consultant firm

The Design Research Unit (DRU) was one of the first generation of British design consultancies combining expertise in architecture, graphics and industrial design. It was founded by the managing director of Stuart Advertising Agency, Marcus Brumwell with Misha Black and Milner Gray in 1943. It became well known for its work in relation to the Festival of Britain in 1951 and its influential corporate identity project for British Rail in 1965. In 2004, DRU merged with Scott Brownrigg architects.

Sedley Place is a British design agency based in Clapham, London and employees 35 designers, graphic artists, architects, web designers and account teams.

Sir Walter John Worboys, was an Australian-born British businessman and chemist. He is best known for widely reforming road traffic signage in the United Kingdom.

Jenny Beavan is an English costume designer. In a career spanning over four decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across stage and screen. She has received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and an Olivier Award. Beavan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to drama production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worboys Committee</span> Committee formed by the British government to review signage on British roads

The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government to review signage on all British roads. In its July 1963 report Traffic signs: report of the committee on traffic signs for all-purpose roads, it found existing road signs to be obsolete for the increasing numbers of motor vehicles and their increasing speeds, and made over a dozen key recommendations. The committee went on to completely revise road signs in Britain, with an emphasis on symbols alone, adopting standard colour and shape practices used in mainland Europe and a new typeface. Its principles were adopted and are still the basis of all road signs in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bliss (typeface)</span>

Bliss is a humanist sans-serif typeface family designed by Jeremy Tankard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Corporate Identity Manual</span> Corporate identity guide

The British Rail Corporate Identity Manual is a corporate identity guide created in 1965 by British Rail. It was conceived in 1964, and finished in July 1965 by British Rail's Design Research Unit, and introduced British Rail's enduring double arrow logo, created by Gerald Barney and still in use today as the logo for National Rail. The manual spanned four volumes, and was created as part of a comprehensive redesign of British Rail following the Beeching Cuts as part of a plan to attract more passengers. It is noted as a piece of British design history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Double Arrow</span> Logo used by British Rail and successor organisations

The British Rail Double Arrow is a logo that was created for British Rail (BR), the then state-owned operator of Britain's railway network, in 1965. It has remained in use as part of the National Rail brand used for Britain's passenger rail services after the disbanding of British Rail, having been officially renamed as the National Rail Double Arrow and more recently being updated and reworked for continued use under the name Rail Symbol 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buenos Aires Visual Plan</span>

The Buenos Aires Visual Plan was the first program to establish an organised system of traffic signs in the city of Buenos Aires, developed and implemented between 1971 and 1972. The plan had been thought by the Buenos Aires administration led by then Intendent Saturnino Montero Ruiz and carried out by the design studio managed by architects Guilermo González Ruiz and Ronald Shakespear.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Birthday Honours 2016: the Prime Minister's list" (PDF). UK Government. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  2. "A few words on Typography". GDS Blog. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  3. Baines, Phil (10 September 2003). "The Time of the Signs". Frieze (77). Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  4. "P&O-Orient Lines Luggage Labels". Jock Kinnear Library. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Wainwright, Oliver (23 October 2020). "Are we nearly there yet? How Margaret Calvert steered Britain into the fast lane". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  6. McLaughlin, Aimée (5 February 2018). "The most influential female designers of the last century". Design Week. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  7. McClatchey, Caroline (9 December 2011). "The road sign as design classic". BBC News . Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  8. "Calvert". Identifont. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  9. 1 2 "Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work". The Design Museum. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  10. "First graduating year of University of the Arts London". University of the Arts London. 7 June 2004. Retrieved 9 December 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  11. "Top Gear S14E07 programme notes". BBC iPlayer . Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  12. "RSA ANNOUNCES ROYAL DESIGNERS FOR INDUSTRY 2011". RSA . Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  13. "D&AD President's Award Winner 2015: Margaret Calvert". D&AD . Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  14. "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B11.
  15. "Queen's Birthday Honours: Rod Stewart and Tim Peake head list". BBC News. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  16. Reader, Jane (8 July 2018). "Strictly judge Dame Darcey honoured by Arts University Bournemouth". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  17. Presenter: Joe Carr, Interviewee: Margaret Calvert (2004). "Routemasters". 1. Episode 1. BBC. BBC Radio 4.

Sources

Further reading