“Woman at Work: Margaret Calvert”: a new crowdfunding book

Lovers of some of the most iconic and influential pieces of 21st century British graphic design should check out Volume and support the crowdfunder for Unit Editions’ new monograph Margaret Calvert: Woman at Workthe definitive book on the life and work of Margaret Calvert. Published by designer and educator Adrian Shaughnessy and designed by Calvert himself alongside Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel of A2/SW/HK, this 240-page hardcover is now being crowdfunded.

Building on the 2020 Design Museum exhibition “Woman at Work” – which unfortunately took place during the pandemic – this is the first book ever to focus on Calvert’s work. Described as a “pioneer of design for public service.” [and] Calvert (b. 1936), a pioneering typographer, received the New York Type Directors Club Medal this year, showing how revered she is in graphic design circles.

Few designers can be said to have had such an impact on a national character. Her long collaboration with her former Chelsea School of Art lecturer Jock Kinneir began when Calvert was just 21, working on new signage for Gatwick Airport. This led to a commission to design signage for the entire British road network, a typographic, pictographic and organizational feat that kept them busy for many years and is still in use today as a recognized design classic.

Woman at work traces the creation and development of this life of creativity, covering the iconic signage work with later projects for British Rail and the British Airports Authority. There is also the Tyne and Wear Metro identity from 1980 (the font for this was available from Monotype as Calvert typeface). Unseen archival images and preparatory sketches abound, and focus is also on Calvert’s role as an educator at the RCA in London and her later work as a solo typographer.

The late Phil Baines once remarked: Eye magazine that “the graphic design of Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert represented a house style for Great Britain characterized by the use of sans serif alphabets with careful and economical use of color and great attention to detail.” Calvert was awarded the Lifetime Achievement London Design Medal in 2017.

As with all crowdfunding projects, there are multiple editions and rewards available, including a slipcase, prints and a specially signed reflective “Woman at Work” traffic sign.

Margaret Calvert: Woman at Workfrom £55, Unit Editions, available from Volume, Vol.co, @Vol.co