Margaret Calvert: Sign of the times

Technology has changed everything, says Margaret Calvert. The renowned graphic designer spoke to Design Indaba about her illustrious career, which she says began when she was thrown into the deep end.
Based in the United Kingdom, Calvert was born in South Africa. She traces her career back to her time teaching at the Royal College of Art. There, a department known as commercial art was replaced by graphic design. She was later offered a job as the assistant to renowned designer, Jock Kinneir.
This catapulted her career as a graphic designer. The now, at 80 years old, Calvert was awarded an OBE for her services to typography, graphic design and road safety.
She is known for her eponymous typeface Calvert, the Rail Alphabet typeface for British Rail and the colour scheme for Gatwick Airport’s signage.
Here, she talks about the enjoyment of doing something difficult and the changes technology has had on the design world.

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Graphic design is applied to anything visual such as road signs. Kinneir and Calvert devised a code of shapes and colors that complied with the protocol proposed by the UN World Conference on Road and Motor Transport.