{{short description|British typographer and graphic designer (born 1936)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Margaret Vivienne Calvert | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=|OBE|RDI}} | image = Margaret Calvert in 2019 (cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Margaret Calvert in 2019 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|5|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Union of South Africa | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|1936|MM|DD|df=yes}} --> | death_place = | citizenship = | education = St Paul's Girls' School, London | alma_mater = Chelsea College of Arts, London | occupation = Typographer and graphic designer | years_active = 1957–present | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = Design of road signs in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories. | notable_works = {{Plainlist}} * Transport * Rail Alphabet * Motorway * Calvert {{Endplainlist}} | style = | spouse = | partner = <!-- unmarried life partner; use ''Name (1950–present)'' --> | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = Officer of the Order of the British Empire }} '''Margaret Vivienne Calvert'''<ref name="PM2016">{{Cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/528696/birthday_honours_list_prime_ministers_list_2016.pdf |title=Birthday Honours 2016: the Prime Minister's list |work=UK Government |accessdate=10 June 2016}}</ref> {{post-nominals|country=GBR|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, as well as the Transport typeface used on road signs, the Rail Alphabet typeface used on the British railway system, and an early version of the signs used in airports. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/07/05/a-few-notes-on-typography/ |title=A few words on Typography |work=GDS Blog |accessdate=10 December 2013}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Born in South Africa, Calvert moved to England in 1950, where she studied at St Paul's Girls' School and the Chelsea College of Art. Kinneir, her tutor there, asked her to help him design the signs for Gatwick Airport.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert |url=https://designmuseum.org/designers/jock-kinneir-and-margaret-calvert |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Design Museum}}</ref> They chose the black on yellow scheme for the signs after researching the most effective combination.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://frieze.com/article/time-signs |title=The Time of the Signs |date=10 September 2003 |first=Phil |last=Baines |journal=Frieze |issue=77 |accessdate=22 June 2009}}</ref> They also designed luggage labels for P & O Lines in 1957.<ref name="P&O labels">{{cite web |title=P&O-Orient Lines Luggage Labels |url=https://jockkinneirlibrary.org/p-and-o-luggage-labels |website=Jock Kinnear Library |accessdate=24 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="Wainwright2020">{{cite web |last1=Wainwright |first1=Oliver |title=Are we nearly there yet? How Margaret Calvert steered Britain into the fast lane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/23/doyenne-of-design-how-margaret-calvert |website=The Guardian|date=23 October 2020 |accessdate=23 October 2020}}</ref>
==Career== In 1957, Kinneir was appointed head of British signs for Britain's roads. He then hired Calvert<ref>{{Cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Aimée |date=2018-02-05 |title=The most influential female designers of the last century |url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-february-2018/the-most-influential-female-designers-of-the-last-century/ |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=Design Week |language=en-UK}}</ref> to redesign the road sign system and she came up with simple, easy-to-understand pictograms, including 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, which she said were actually modelled after herself), using the European protocol of triangular signs for warnings and circles for mandatory restrictions.<ref>{{cite web |last=McClatchey |first=Caroline |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15990443 |title=The road sign as design classic |work=BBC News |date=9 December 2011 |accessdate=9 December 2011}}</ref> The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government in July 1963 to review signage on all British roads.
In addition to her road signs, Calvert has designed commercial typefaces for Monotype, including the eponymous Calvert typeface, a slab serif design which she created in 1980. It originated in a 1970s proposal to the French new town of Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines for a new typeface to provide a visual identity for the town. However, the slab-serif typeface and three-dimensional letter shapes were rejected.<ref name="Wainwright2020" /> The typeface was later adopted by the Tyne and Wear Metro system as well as north-east England bus and ferry services in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.identifont.com/show?H3 |title=Calvert |work=Identifont |accessdate=9 December 2011}}</ref>
In 2020 a new version of the typeface used in the UK rail system was introduced, Rail Alphabet 2. It was designed in collaboration with Henrik Kubel.<ref name="designmuseum2020">{{cite web |title=Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work |url=https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/margaret-calvert-woman-at-work |website=The Design Museum |accessdate=24 October 2020}}</ref>
Calvert taught at the Royal College of Art for almost 40 years and was head of graphics from 1987 to 1991.<ref name="Wainwright2020" />
==Recognition== [[File:Margaret Calvert with Ben Terrett in 2018.jpg|thumb|Margaret Calvert with Ben Terrett in 2018]] Calvert was awarded an honorary degree by the University of the Arts London in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arts.ac.uk/about/departments/pressmedia/pressreleasearchive/2004/firstgraduatingyearofuniversityoftheartslondon/ |title=First graduating year of University of the Arts London |date=7 June 2004 |accessdate=9 December 2011 |work=University of the Arts London }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
She appeared on the fourteenth season of the famous motoring show, ''Top Gear'' on 3 January 2010. James May interviewed her in a 2009 Vauxhall Insignia VXR, talking about the design process of the UK road signs.<ref name="top gear">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/iplayer/episode/b00pws33/Top_Gear_Series_14_Episode_cb |title=''Top Gear'' S14E07 programme notes |accessdate=9 December 2011 |work=BBC iPlayer }}</ref>
She was made a Royal Designer for Industry for Graphic Design in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thersa.org/about-us/media/2011/11/trsa-announces-royal-designers-for-industry-2011 |title=RSA ANNOUNCES ROYAL DESIGNERS FOR INDUSTRY 2011 |website=RSA |date=16 November 2011 |accessdate=16 November 2011 |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208093001/https://www.thersa.org/about-us/media/2011/11/trsa-announces-royal-designers-for-industry-2011/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2015, she was presented with the D&AD President's Award.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dandad.org/en/d-ad-margaret-calvert-awards-insights/ |title=D&AD President's Award Winner 2015: Margaret Calvert |work=D&AD |accessdate=6 January 2017}}</ref>
Calvert was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to typography and road safety.<ref name="PM2016" /><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61608 |supp=y |page=B11 |date=11 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36492850 |title=Queen's Birthday Honours: Rod Stewart and Tim Peake head list |work=BBC News |date=10 June 2016 |accessdate=10 June 2016}}</ref>
The primary route sign system designed by Kinneir and Calvert between 1957 and 1967 entered the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which presented their work in the audio programme ''Pirouette: Turning Points in Design''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jock Kinneir, Margaret Calvert, Simon Morgan. Primary route sign for British roadways. Designed 1957–1967|url=https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/344/4682|website=Museum of Modern Art|access-date=2026-05-17}}</ref>. The same system remains the legal basis of road signage in the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and several British Overseas Territories in the 2020s, with revisions limited to the 2016 Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/362/contents/made|website=legislation.gov.uk|access-date=2026-05-17}}</ref>.
In June 2018 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Arts University Bournemouth alongside dancer Darcey Bussell, costume designer Jenny Beavan OBE and director and screenwriter Edgar Wright.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Reader |first1=Jane |title=Strictly judge Dame Darcey honoured by Arts University Bournemouth |url=http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/16340367.strictly-judge-dame-darcey-honoured-by-arts-university-bournemouth/ |accessdate=9 July 2018 |publisher=Bournemouth Echo |date=8 July 2018}}</ref>
A retrospective exhibition of her work, ''Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work,''<ref name="designmuseum2020" /> was held from 21 October 2020 till 10 January 2021 at the Design Museum in London.<ref name="Wainwright2020" /> An illustrated book with the same title written by Margaret Calvert, Adrian Shaughnessy, John L Walters, and Marion Deuchars, was published in 2026 by Thames and Hudson.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work |url=https://www.thamesandhudson.com/products/margaret-calvert-woman-at-work |access-date=2026-02-13 |website=Thames & Hudson |language=en}}</ref> A documentary film about the history of British road signs called 'And give way to design' and directed by Patricio Orozco is due out in March 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Slessor |first=Catherine |date=13 February 2026 |title=Sign Language |work=The Guardian Weekly |pages=55-56}}</ref>
==Gallery of work== <gallery> File:Transport sample.png|Transport typeface, used on road signs in the UK and several other countries File:Railalphabet.png|Rail Alphabet typeface, used throughout British Rail and formerly the National Health Service in the UK File:Motorway-font-UK.png|Motorway typeface, used for road numbering on UK motorways File:Motorway Typeface - 1958 Sample.svg|Motorway Typeface - 1958 Sample File:Haymarket Metro station, 20 September 2010 (6).jpg|Calvert typeface, on a sign from Haymarket station on the Tyne and Wear Metro File:Welcome to Metro - geograph.org.uk - 1203645.jpg|Calvert typeface on the Tyne and Wear Metro File:UK traffic sign 7001.svg|Roadworks sign used in the UK, one of the pictographic signs designed by Calvert ahead of the 1963 Worboys Review File:UK traffic sign 548.svg|UK road sign warning of farm animals, based on a cow Calvert remembered from her childhood File:UK traffic sign 551.svg|UK road sign warning of wild animals, inspired by Eadweard Muybridge's photographs of animals in motion.<ref>{{cite episode | title = Routemasters | number = 1 | series = 1 | credits = Presenter: Joe Carr, Interviewee: Margaret Calvert | network = BBC | station = BBC Radio 4 | air-date = 2004}}</ref> File:UK traffic sign 545.svg|UK road sign warning of schoolchildren, one of the pictographic signs designed by Calvert ahead of the 1963 Worboys Review </gallery>
==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== *{{cite web|last=Sears|first=Neil|url=http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/features/calvertsigns.htm|title=After 40 Years, The Girl on the School Sign Steps Out @ Nostalgia Central|work=Daily Mail|date=29 May 2004|access-date=17 November 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030163809/http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/features/calvertsigns.htm|archive-date=30 October 2005|url-status=dead}} *{{cite web|last=Hilliard Selka|first=Elizabeth|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/9214460/Margaret-Calvert-interview-Caution-woman-at-work.html|title=Margaret Calvert interview: Caution: woman at work|work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=13 March 2016|date=19 April 2012}} *{{Cite web |url=http://designmuseum.org/design/jock-kinneir-margaret-calvert |title=Design Museum – Jock Kinneir + Margaret Calvert |accessdate=9 December 2011 |work=Design Museum}}
===Further reading=== * {{cite book|last1=MacMillan|first1=Niel|title=An A–Z of Type Designers|year=2006|publisher=Yale University Press|location=London|isbn=9780300111514}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Shaughnessy |editor1-first=Adrian |title=Margaret Calvert: Woman at Work |date=2026 |publisher=Thames & Hudson|editor-link1=Adrian Shaughnessy |location=London |isbn=9780500030448}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://www.behance.net/gallery/11834185/Keep-it-Simple-Thesis-book Keep it Simple]: interview by Francesco Padovani * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084flz2 The Brits Who Designed the Modern World] Artsnight - Series 4: 7, BBC Two * ''[https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/344/4682 Jock Kinneir, Margaret Calvert, Simon Morgan. Primary route sign for British roadways. Designed 1957–1967]'', brief MoMA audio document from ''Pirouette: Turning Points in Design''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvert, Margaret}} Category:1936 births Category:Living people Category:British designers Category:British graphic designers Category:British women graphic designers Category:South African graphic designers Category:Women graphic designers Category:British typographers and type designers Category:History of transport in the Isle of Man Category:History of transport in the United Kingdom Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Royal Designers for Industry Category:People educated at St Paul's Girls' School Category:South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:London Design Medal awardees Category:Academics of the Royal College of Art Category:Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts