Margaret Calvert
Encyclopedia
Margaret Calvert is a typographer and graphic designer
who, with colleague Jock Kinneir
, designed many of the road signs used throughout Great Britain, as well as the Transport
font used on road signs and the Rail Alphabet
font used on the British railway system and an early version of the signs used in airports.
Born in South Africa, Calvert moved to England in 1950, she studied at the Chelsea College of Art. Kinneir, her tutor there, asked her to help him design the signs for Gatwick Airport, where they chose the black on yellow scheme for the signs after researching the most effective combination.
In 1957, Kinneir was appointed head of signs for Britain's roads. He then hired Calvert to redesign the road sign system
and she came up with simple, easy-to-understand pictogram
s, most notably 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, whom she later revealed to be herself), based on pre-existing European road signs.
In addition to her road signs, she has designed commercial font
s for Monotype, including the eponymous Calvert font, which she created for use on the Tyne and Wear Metro
system. She was awarded an honorary degree by the University of the Arts London
in 2004.
She appeared on Top Gear on 3 January 2010 talking about the design process of the UK road signs. James interviewed her in a 2009 Vauxhall Insignia.
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
who, with colleague Jock Kinneir
Jock Kinneir
Richard 'Jock' Kinneir was a typographer and graphic designer who, with colleague Margaret Calvert, designed many of the road signs used throughout the United Kingdom. Their system has become a model for modern road signage....
, designed many of the road signs used throughout Great Britain, as well as the Transport
Transport (typeface)
Transport is a sans serif typeface 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....
font used on road signs and the Rail Alphabet
Rail Alphabet
Rail Alphabet is a typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for British Railways. First used by them in signing tests at London's Liverpool Street Station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit as part of their comprehensive 1965 rebranding of the company.Rail Alphabet is...
font used on the British railway system and an early version of the signs used in airports.
Born in South Africa, Calvert moved to England in 1950, she studied at the Chelsea College of Art. Kinneir, her tutor there, asked her to help him design the signs for Gatwick Airport, where they chose the black on yellow scheme for the signs after researching the most effective combination.
In 1957, Kinneir was appointed head of signs for Britain's roads. He then hired Calvert to redesign the road sign system
Road signs in the United Kingdom
Road signs in the United Kingdom conform broadly to European norms, though a number of signs are unique to Britain and direction signs omit European route numbers.-History:...
and she came up with simple, easy-to-understand pictogram
Pictogram
A pictograph, also called pictogram or pictogramme is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance.Pictography is a...
s, most notably 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, whom she later revealed to be herself), based on pre-existing European road signs.
In addition to her road signs, she has designed commercial font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
s for Monotype, including the eponymous Calvert font, which she created for use on the Tyne and Wear Metro
Tyne and Wear Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...
system. She was awarded an honorary degree by the University of the Arts London
University of the Arts London
The University of the Arts London, formerly known as the London Institute, is a collegiate university comprising six internationally recognised art, design, fashion and media colleges in London, England...
in 2004.
She appeared on Top Gear on 3 January 2010 talking about the design process of the UK road signs. James interviewed her in a 2009 Vauxhall Insignia.