Woman at Work

The first book dedicated to Margaret Calvert, pioneer of design for public service, a groundbreaking typographer and recipient of 2024’s New York Type Directors Club Medal.

Margaret Calvert’s design work on the signs of Britain’s national road network, with Jock Kinneir, means that it is almost impossible to travel anywhere in the UK and not benefit from her skill as a designer. Her ultra-legible typeface and engaging pictograms have become an integral part of everyday British life, and they have set the benchmark for highway signage internationally.

Following a distinguished career as a graphic designer, Margaret Calvert became an influential educator at the Royal College of Art, where she taught a generation of designers, many of whom have achieved global recognition. Today, working in her home studio, she takes on projects that personally inspire her.

This monograph – the first dedicated to her work – captures the full arc of her career, encompassing the three distinct phases of her professional life and offering insight into her early years in South Africa and her formative experiences after moving to the UK as a teenager. Lavishly illustrated with rare glimpses into her archive and details of her legendary typefaces, it is designed by Margaret and A2/SW/HK, the studio co-founded by her frequent creative partner (and former student) Henrik Kubel and Scott Williams. The book is edited by Adrian Shaughnessy, with an introduction by Eye magazine editor, John L. Walters and an essay by Margaret’s friend and former student Marion Deuchars.