- Herbert Spencer (graphic designer)
Herbert Spencer was a British designer, editor, writer, photographer and teacher, born in
London on June 22, 1924. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,667503,00.html] [http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=69&fid=276]From 1949 to 1967, Spencer was editor of "
Typographica ", a design journal that he founded. Thirty-two issues of "Typographica" were published (in two series of sixteen issues each). Spencer also served as editor of "The Penrose Annual " from 1964 to 1973. [http://www.lundhumphries.com/pages/single/11203.html] From 1969 to 1988, Spencer was Art Director at Lund Humphries (Lund Humphries was the publisher of both "Typographica " and "The Penrose Annual "). [http://www.lundhumphries.com/pages/single/11203.html]In the 1950s, Spencer taught
typography at theCentral School of Arts and Crafts . Spencer was a professor of graphic arts at theRoyal College of Art (RCA) from 1978 until 1985.Spencer wished to prove that British road signs were chaotic. He therefore photographed road signs and published the results in two photographic essays in " Typographica" in 1961. As a result the Ministry of Transport set up the Warboys Commission in 1963 to devise a consistent system of signage for British road signs. [ [http://www.designmuseum.org/design/jock-kinneir-margaret-calvert Origin of British road sign design] ]
Spencer died March 11, 2002 at the age of 77.
For a more complete biography see
Rick Poynor 's obituary for Spencer printed inThe Guardian , March 15, 2002. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,667503,00.html]Books
* "Design in Business Printing", 1952
* "Traces of Man" (with photographs by Herbert Spencer), Lund Humphries, London, 1967.
* "The Visible Word" (legibility studies at RCA), Royal College of Art, London, 1968
* "Pioneers of Modern Typography ", Lund Humphries, London, 1969.
* "Pioneers of Modern Typography " (revised ediiton byRick Poynor ), MIT Press, 2004. (ISBN 978-0-262-69303-5)External links
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,667503,00.html Rick Poynor's obituary of Spencer in the "Guardian"]
* [http://www.lundhumphries.com/pages/single/11203.html Lund Humphries description of "Pioneers of Modern Typography"] features biographical information on SpencerReferences
* "Typographica", by
Rick Poynor , Princeton Architectural Press, 2001. (ISBN 978-1-56898-298-4)
* "Eye", No. 44, Vol. 11, edited by John L. Walters, Quantum Publishing, London, 2002. [http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=69&fid=276]
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