Surprised by history: revisiting the imaginary landscape of our typographic past / a lecture by Catherine Dixon *
2 july 2015FAU Maranhão, sala 62
A talk which will set out some recent research into the origins of typographic teaching and learning within design education at the arts institutions now amalgamated within Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London. In addition to identifying key moments in distinguishing the particular requirements of a designer’s education in typography from trade training the talk will reflect on the wider significance of these at first very localised shifts in practice and then on a set of concerns in relation to a perceived contemporary over-reliance on imagined and often wholly unchallenged typographic histories.
Catherine Dixon gained a BA in Graphic Design (1992); a PgD in Communication Design; a PhD (A description framework for typeforms, an applied study, 2003) from Central Saint Martins; and a Pg Cert in Teaching and Learning in Art and Design (2010) from CLTAD. She worked afreelance as a designer for publishers such as Penguin Books and Phaidon, and on several projects with Phil Baines. In addition to design work, she is a regular contributor to Eye magazine, Matrix, and other journals, and author of 'Signs, lettering in the environment' with Phil Baines (Laurence King 2003). She sits on the Executive Committee of St. Bride Library where she has been curator of their conferences and events since 2003. She began teaching on the course in 1999 and became Senior Lecturer in Typography in 2002. She also supervises a number of PhD students at Central Saint Martins and is an External Examiner at Lincoln University. With Phil Baines, she curates the Central Lettering Record, part of the College’s Museum and Contemporary Collection.
