Anglia Ruskin University

Will Hill is the author of The Complete Typographer (3rd Edn Thames and Hudson 2010), contributing author to Font: the sourcebook (Black Dog 2008) and co-author of Art and Text (Black Dog 2009). He is currently completing a PhD by publication on the theme of Type and Materiality.

In 2010 he spoke at the Agrafa conference Responsibility in Graphic Design, Katowice, Typographic Horizons, Birmingham, and the ATypi conference Word in Dublin, and gave a series of lectures and workshops at US Universities. During 2011 his activity on the typographic conference circuit continued with an invitation from the Leipzig Museum fur Druck-Kunst to speak at the Typotage conference. His paper 'Painted Words' is to be published in the forthcoming issue of the Berlin-based international design journal Slanted.

He was also invited to give a presentation on environmental typographics for the Research Seminars programme at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Derby. In July 2011 he gave a forum presentation and a conference paper at Typecon 2011 in New Orleans; an edited version of the paper is to appear in Linotype Linotletter. He is currently organising and curating a touring exhibition of contemporary type design for the Worshipful Company of Stationers, to open at the Stationer's Hall in London in May 2012 before travelling to a range of universities and public venues in UK and Europe.

Jon Melton's professional background as a traditional designer and art director underpins his academic work that seeks to revive traditional good practice within typography. More specifically his passion for history and for display and ornamented type informs his research which focuses upon key moments in type design evolution - in an attempt to established missed opportunities, forgotten typefaces, or an alternative direction for his typographic time-travel under the guise of his micro font foundry, emfoundry.com. Through investigative practice he has generated a number of typefaces that explore the potential of historically inspired letterforms within contemporary contexts.

He is currently completing Classic Soane, which was created in homage to the Regency architect Sir John Soane and his refined classical vernacular. This typeface was officially launched within the 'Types for the New Century' exhibition in London in May 2012 and is now set to travel throughout Europe.

Jon has also begun preliminary research and designs for his next font Ogilby, which is derived from the engraved cartographic letterforms of John Ogilby's road maps of 1675. Ogilby employed the engraver Wenceslas Hollar (amongst others) to create the topography, titles, annotations and ornaments for his Britannia series within what was then a highly radical 'heads-up' linear route approach to information design. It is Jon's intension to capture and distill down the decorative engravers 'hand' into a new font evocative of the Charles II period.

Rob Tovey completed his PhD research degree at the Cambridge School of Art in 2012-13. In his time with us he became an invaluable member of the teaching team on the undergraduate Graphic Design course. He remains an active member of the Typographic Research Group and its growing community.

His research examines graphic representations of space, looking particularly at the hybridisation of photography and informational design as photomaps. This research offers a reappraisal of art-historical narratives around spatial documentation and photography, whilst also informing contemporary design approaches.

He is particularly interested in formal experimentation with the photomap form by historical practitioners such as Eadweard Muybridge, Gordon Matta-Clark, Étienne-Jules Marey, and Ed Ruscha, and in contemporary representations of space, Google's cartographic projections using satellite photography and Andreas Gefeller's photographic scans of architectural spaces. Within his practice-led research, Rob has created numerous photomaps of subjects including churches, secret ex-military atomic laboratories, fairgrounds, houses and galleries.

Lisa Kirkham is a typographic designer, who completed a Master's degree in Typographic Design at the Cambridge School of Art in 2008. During this time she developed her interest in children's books and type design, and through her particular projects, she began to explore the idea of 'digital craft'.

In October, 2012 she returned to Anglia Ruskin University to study for a PhD. Leading on from her earlier work - the design of a font and a comparison of the limits and freedoms of digital and tradition tools - her current research is centred on the impacts of cultural and technological changes on type and typography, with specific focus on the importance of tactility and physical properties for design processes and outcomes.

Associate members

The work of the research group is enhanced by our working relationships with a number of leading practitioners:

Simon Loxley is a designer and writer on graphic design and typographic history. He is the author of Type, the Secret History of Letters (IB Tauris 2006) and is the editor of Ultrabold, the Journal of the St Bride's Printing Library.

Jeremy Tankard has gained a worldwide reputation for the high quality and unique designs of his typefaces, which include the type families Bliss, Shaker, Kingfisher and Trilogy as well as commissioned typefaces for Christchurch Art Gallery, Sheffield City and Microsoft Corporation. He initially worked with major consultancies, advising and creating typography for some of the best-known international brands before establishing Jeremy Tankard Typography in 1998.

Dale Tomlinson is a graphic designer specializing in book typography, working for a range of clients including Cambridge University Press.