Designers in the composing room: a progressive tale of typographic transgression

A text which elaborates on a conference presentation given as part of the AHRC-funded Research Network ‘Letterpress printing: past, present, future’. The network set up three workshops (Birmingham, Dublin, Bath Spa University) and a final conference held in Leeds 19-20 July 2018 which is where I presented.

The book also named ‘Letterpress printing: Past, present, future’ is divided into three parts: Letterpress in transition; Letterpress and preservation; Letterpress’s future potential. My chapter opens part 1 exploring themes of Letterpress in transition.

The chapter outlines an emergent shift in the education of the mid-twentieth century designer, in which advocates of a ‘hands-on’ approach to learning typography sought access to the composing room for design students, and in so doing transgressed existing trade and professional boundaries. I frame my examination of this shift in attitudes within the history of the composing room at Central Saint Martins (1989), and, its constituent colleges, Central School of Arts & Crafts (1896) and St Martins School of Art (1854).

Three historical episodes, each of which introduces a key figure, are used to build a narrative of progressive transgression as explored in relation to the idea of the normalization of a ‘hands-on’ approach to typographic education. The first episode is characterized as one of transgressive intention, and focuses on the formative educational experiences of Anthony Froshaug (1920-84) at the Central. It documents the emergence of an educational agenda that sought to address the exclusion of designers from the composing room and to counter the dominant orthodoxies of an industrialized craft of printing. The second episode is characterized as one of progressive possibility, and focuses on the experimental typographic evening class run by Edward Wright (1912-88) at the Central from 1952-56. It outlines a successful challenge to the pedagogical limitations of the existing production demarcations in the training of a typographer, and the changing landscape of Art and Design education following broad reforms in Higher Education. The third episode is characterized as one of greater normalization, and focuses on the set-up of a composing room at St Martins by the designer and part-time tutor Romek Marber (1925-2020) in the 1960s in alignment with the idea of the benefits of a ‘hands-on’ experience of learning typography for students studying graphic design.

These three episodes punctuate related contextual narratives, not least the formalization of the term graphic design within education and practice. In using the composing room as the narrative frame, its changing role from trade training space to an alternative craft workshop is foregrounded throughout. An indicative mapping of the network of influence of Froshaug, Wright and Marber establishes some sense of the reach of their teaching and ideas beyond the immediate institutional context of CSM before the legacy of their ‘hands-on’ typographic pedagogy and practices is examined in relation to contemporary discussion of progressive approaches within letterpress and craft contexts.

Contribution to knowledge:
• To articulate the limiting impact of industrial and unionized training on the typographic education of the designer.
• To locate the introduction of haptic teaching and learning methods in relation to letterpress much earlier than the contemporary era with which they are more typically associated and encourage a recalibration in understanding of the letterpress resources available within art departments now.
• To map the educational legacy of Edward Wright’s evening classes at the Central School and
show how the contributions of a series of key figures extended beyond a single institution and helped to shape a changing culture of typographic pedagogy and practice.
• To position the contemporary CSM letterpress workshop in relation to wider and transformative histories of practice.
• To articulate the cultural perspectives informing the production of outcomes and bring greater depth to an understanding of the wider systems informing the visual culture of letterpress.

In summary this was an opportunity to expand upon an earlier exploration of the history of the CSM composing room first begun in 2011 and further investigate the role of the progressive pedagogies of former staff in shaping a changing culture of typographic education and practice. The AHRC-funded Research Network ‘Letterpress printing: past, present, future’ has brought greater exposure to this work with the value of its contribution to knowledge recognized in acceptance of this chapter within the resulting book. In that volume my individual reflection is amplified through the collective assembly of the most relevant international voices bringing critical insight across a range of approaches to letterpress research and practice.

• https://letterpress.leeds.ac.uk/events/