Margaret Calvert

MARGARET CALVERT

Margaret Calvert 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. She also designed typefaces including the Transport font used on road signs, the Rail Alphabet font used on the British railway system and Calvert font used on Tyne and Wear Metro system. 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. Alongside these projects, Calvert taught at the Royal College of Art for almost 40 years and was head of graphics from 1987 to 1991.

Calvert was awarded with an honorary degree by the University of the Arts London in 2004, she was made a Royal Designer for Industry for Graphic Design in 2011, in 2015, she was presented with the D&AD President's Award and in June 2018 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Arts University Bournemouth.

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

A retrospective exhibition of her work, Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work, was held from October 2020 until January 2021 at the Design Museum in London.

‘Design is a service,’ she once said. ‘It’s purely logic, function and aesthetics.’ And yet, as her career confirms, at its best it becomes fine art.

ARTWORKS

Margaret Calvert - 20mph

£300.00

Margaret Calvert - Cattle

£850.00

Margaret Calvert - Illuminate

£500.00

Margaret Calvert - Roadworks (Woman at Work)

£500.00

Margaret Calvert - School Children Pictogram

£850.00

Margaret Calvert - Wild Animals

£850.00

Margaret Calvert - Wild Horses or Ponies

£850.00

EXHIBITIONS

MARGARET CALVERT: ROADWORKS

4th March - 13th April 2023

CV

Education:
1950s - illustration and printmaking at Chelsea College of Art

Exhibitions:
2023 - Roadworks, Liminal Gallery, Margate
2021-2022 - Automania, MoMA, New York
2020 - 2021 - Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work, Design Museum, London
2012 - British Design 1948 – 2012: Innovation in the Modern Age, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2008 - Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London

Selected Professional Highlights:
1957 - Designed luggage labels for P & O Lines
1958 - Designed signs for Gatwick Airport
1965 - Redesigned the road sign system across the UK
1980 - Designed commercial fonts for Monotype, including the Calvert font
2020 - Designed the font Rail Alphabet 2, in collaboration with Henrik Kubel
Taught at the Royal College of Art for almost 40 years and was Head of Graphics from 1987 to 1991

Selected Accolades:
1976 - Elected a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale
2004 - Awarded an honorary degree by the University of the Arts London
2006 - Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Brighton
2011 - Made a Royal Designer for Industry for Graphic Design
2015 - Awarded the D&AD President's Award
2016 - Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to
typography and road safety
2016 - Awarded the Misha Black Medal for distinguished services to design education
2016 - Received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art
2017 - Awarded the London Design Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Medal
2018 - Awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Arts University Bournemouth

Collections:
Government Art Collection, UK
Victoria & Albert Museum

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