My former work colleague Michael Twyman, who has died aged 91, was a pioneer of the study of typography as a university discipline in Britain, and was founder of the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at Reading University in the mid-1970s.
His vision for teaching the subject of typography combined history, theory and practice in graphics, typefaces, books and information design. It was innovative in drawing on linguistics, psychology, social and economic history and the humanities to address “design for reading”.
His legacy is not just the department he founded, but an approach to visual communication as rational thinking that is applicable to any new media, and which can respond to the challenge of the digital economy through focused research. His own contribution developed the discipline through publications and collections.
Michael was born in London to Lawrence, a teacher, and Gladys (nee Williams), who looked after the family. He went to Sir George Monoux grammar school in Walthamstow, east London, although he was evacuated during the second world war to Broadway in the Cotswolds, an experience that left him with an affection for historic buildings and landscape.
At the University of Reading in 1953 he began a degree in fine art, and on graduation the university awarded him a scholarship to undertake research into the history of lithography. After taking a postgraduate teaching qualification at Cambridge University, he was invited to return to Reading to teach typography on the fine art course in 1959.
Separate degrees in typography and graphic communication were awarded by Reading from 1968 onwards, and Michael taught on those courses, inspiring students who went on to leadership positions in the design industry worldwide, notably with tech firms.
In 1970 he wrote a classic of printing and graphic design history, Printing 1770-1970. On setting up the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at Reading in 1974 he also became a professor.
After retiring in 1998, Michael fulfilled his long-held ambition of writing a book about lithographic printing in colour: A History of Chromolithography: Printed Colour for All (2013). His most recent publication, Reproducing the Bayeux Tapestry Over Three Centuries (2024), was dedicated to his daughter Nikky, who died not long before its publication.
In 1957 Michael married Nin Andrews, a fellow student at Reading and then an art teacher. She survives him, along with their sons, Jeremy and Dan, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
