Margaret Calvert - Illuminate

Margaret Calvert OBE RDI (b. 1936) is a British graphic designer and typographer best known for co-designing the UK’s road signage system in the 1960s with Jock Kinneir, as well as creating the Transport, Rail Alphabet, and Calvert typefaces. Her work has shaped public design across Britain, with the Transport typeface later adapted into New Transport for the GOV.UK website. She taught at the Royal College of Art for nearly 40 years, leading the graphics department from 1987 to 1991, and was honoured with awards including the D&AD President’s Award (2015) and an OBE (2016) for services to typography and road safety. A major retrospective, Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work, was held at the Design Museum from 2020 to 2021.

Margaret Calvert’s Illuminate is a playful work created for her 2023 solo exhibition Roadworks at Liminal Gallery. This is a sign in all respects, and she has used retroreflective material, the same used in her iconic road sign designs. The word “Illuminate” is broken into syllables across lines, a play on the word Liminal and the material’s light-responsive properties. With characteristic wit and clarity, Calvert distils complexity into simplicity, reaffirming her legacy as a pioneer of intuitive and intelligent design.

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