Communication Design: Typeface Design MA

The MA Communication Design: Typeface Design Pathway combines the development of practical skills with the study of historical and theoretical issues, in a world-class research-intensive environment.

This course integrates shared elements of study and pathway-specific elements. This Typeface Design pathway allows for specialisation and a deeper engagement with Communication Design.

The Typeface Design pathway focuses on the development of multiscript typefaces for text-intensive applications. Students work on defining, planning, and designing a multiscript typeface family, exploring issues of character complements, the development of family styles across scripts, and the relationship of convention and modernity in typeface design.

Why study MA Communication Design: Typeface Design Pathway at Reading?

• The global reference programme in the field
• First university-based pathway in this subject
• Highly international student body, with a wide range of backgrounds
• Pathway combines practical and academic elements into a signature model for design education
• Design and research areas are global in perspective, with a wide variety of typographic scripts covered

What will you study?

Students on the Typeface Design pathway work on three modules. The first involves a series of seminars that cover key areas in typography and typeface design, and build a foundation in critical reading and research methods. These seminars are shared with other master’s students, and include reading and discussion of key texts, and preparation of a presentation to peers.

The practical module for the Typeface Design pathway focuses on the development of multiscript typefaces for text-intensive applications. Students work on defining, planning, and designing a multiscript typeface family. They explore issues of character complements, the development of family styles across scripts, and the relationship of convention and modernity in typeface design. Students are encouraged to consider both mainstream scripts and scripts that are marginally supported by current standards.

The third module comprises preparation and work for a substantial dissertation, on an area that may be connected to the work in the other modules of the programme.

What career can you have?

Our graduates have an excellent employment record. Many take up positions in type design studios, with publishers and general design studios, and wayfinding and information design studios. Others develop their own businesses, or take up managerial roles in creative firms. Employers include Apple, Monotype, Microsoft Typography, Victoria & Albert Museum, Oxford University Press, Financial Times and Nokia.

View all Typography and Graphic Communication courses

Visit the Communication Design: Typeface Design MA page on the University of Reading website for more details!