Margaret Calvert is a British Graphic Designer who is most notable for her work on the road signs used throughout the UK. She has also created the signage for the British Airport Authority. Calvert also created the modern design guide for the British Railways using a modified form of the Helvetica typeface.
Below is some of her work on Road Signage and her Railway typography. In her road signs she has a very minimal bold style but she avoids being abstract with her forms in order for clear communication. Calverts use of typography is also very interesting but there was less information on it’s history, all I can say is that it looks similar to Helvetica (both being Sans Serif Fonts).
I’ve chosen to research Calvert because of her work on the British road signs. I believe I could make some pictograms that could be used as signage throughout the city that could direct trams and point out key destinations. I also found her work very interesting because she worked a piece of typography on the British Railway.
In early 2020 I went to the design museum in London to gather primary research for my FMP at the time, they had an exhibit featuring the lifetime work that Calvert made in her years as a designer. Currently there is still a digital exhibition of her work at the design museum which I also explored.
Sources:
https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/margaret-calvert-woman-at-work-the-virtual-experience
https://hatchedlondon.com/margaret-calvert-the-mother-of-modern-day-information-design/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/23/doyenne-of-design-how-margaret-calvert
Fred's FMP 