We shape the the development of typeface design as a formal discipline, in a space where research and practice coexist. We recognise the depth and importance of cultural contexts, the technological environments and ways of thinking that influence innovation and practice, the language and mental models we use to comprehend and discuss typographic design. Through typeface design we explore the tension between traditional notions and modernity, and the construction of identity: how we shape the visible forms of language, and in turn this shapes us.
We do this at four levels: a Research Group with interdisciplinary strands, a vibrant community of PhD researchers, a portfolio of Masters programmes, and an intensive summer course.
Research Group
Staff-led research projects spanning typeface design across scripts, typographic history, theoretical approaches to the discipline, and interdisciplinary / transdisciplinary models of research.
More information on our research group further down, and via the links on staff pages and at the top.
PhD research
Independent researchers working on approved projects with close supervision by staff, with extensive training and support for both typographic knowledge and research skills. Outputs are purely thesis-based, or thesis integrating practice.
Beyond the topics investigated in the research group, the full range of PhD topics in the Department gives an idea of the broader research activity.
We regularly host ad hoc and visiting PhD researchers, and welcome post-docs.
Additionally, we organise PhD forums with partner institutions.
Masters study
One Masters programme (MATD) combines practice and applied research skills for multiscript typeface design. Two Research Masters programmes support independently managed projects and prepare students for PhD study.
The Masters research archive gives an idea of the topics people work on for dissertations, with some downloads.
The MATD practice archive lists all graduate projects, and samples notable practice work.
This page links to formal descriptions on the University’s site.
TDi course
The original and preeminent intensive course for research and practice in multiscript typeface design. Aimed at experienced designers, researchers and educators, those who work with archives, and professionals managing large typeface projects. PhD students from our group attend it as part of their training. Researchers from other groups join as part of collaborative agreements, or individual requests.
Read about this year’s course here.
Typographic Systems and Cultures research group
Our research group investigates the translation of scripts to typographic resources, the technical infrastructure and social environments that enable typographic applications, and the evolving forms and uses of rendered texts. We explore the meaning of typographic scripts for communities of readers and makers.
Our methodology places typography at the intersection of form-making and physical or digital encoding, the models and language of specification, the technology of experiencing texts, the role of visible texts in shaping community identities, and notions of ownership and agency.
Group leader
Gerry Leonidas | Professor of Typography
Group members
Borna Izadpanah | Lecturer in Typography & Graphic Communication
Fiona Ross | Professor in Type Design
Irmi Wachendorff | Associate Professor
Cheng Xunchang | Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Current researchers
Nhật Anh Nguyễn (2026–) : Intelligent typography: A cultural and computational approach to Vietnamese diacritics.
Tamadher Al-Obeidani (2025–) : Designing trust across scripts: a practice-led
investigation of typeface characteristics and perceptual impact in multiscript sustainability advertising.
Min-Young Kim (2025–) : CJK-Latin multiscript typography on AR/VR environments.
Muthu Nedumaran (2025–) : Secondary typefaces in Bengali and Tamil
documents: context and approaches for future design.
Suman Bhandary (2025–) : An investigation into readability research for native
Bangla readers.
Chen Yue (2025–) : Typographic implementation of the Yi script.
Xin Guocheng (2025–) : Chinese connecting writing styles typefaces and parametric design methods.
Park Yuseon (2024–) : Understanding the evolution of Hanguel typefaces in response to technological changes and new document genres.
Ma Weiji (2024–) : The past of calligraphy in Sanyi, 1644–1912: establishment of the calligraphic artworld in a Chinese multi-ethnic borderland.
Abeera Zishan (2023–) : Lahori Nastaʿlīq as a case study for enabling digital parity across global scripts.
Chhandak Pradhan (2022– ) : A comparative study of Bengali letterforms: decolonial perspectives for the development of variable Bengali fonts.
Andrew Byrom (2021– ) : The structure of typographic innovation: analysing paradigm shifts in typeface design.
Past PhD researchers
Yong Ring (2021– 26) : Printing in Chinese: missionary publishing, hybrid materiality, and the London Missionary Society in China and Southeast Asia, 1800–1860s.
Yang Xicheng (2023–26) : Reviving the Tangut script: new paradigms in designing digital typefaces for extinct writing systems
Najla Badran (2017– 25) : Diacritics in the Arabic script and typography: development of form and placement over time and technologies.
Sorin Pintilie (2018–22) : Thinking with type through materialities: a theoretical approach to digital type systems.
Ferdinand Ulrich (2015– 22) : The discourse in early digital type design technologies.
Mohamad Dakak (2017–22) : Towards understanding inconsistency in Arabic type design and its effect on Arab readership.
Victor Gaultney (2015–20) : Italics redefined: influences and approaches in the design of contemporary secondary text typefaces.
Pria Ravichandran (2015–20) : The development of typographic forms for Kannada and Telugu scripts.
Riccardo Olocco (2015–19) : A new method of analyzing printed type : the case of 15th-century Venetian romans.
Elena Papassissa (2015–19) : Armenian typefaces from 1840 to the present: traditionalism, Latinisation, and the search for identity through changing technologies.
Emanuela Conidi (2013–18) : Early Arabic types in Europe and the Middle East between the XVI and XIX centuries.
Ad hoc and visiting researchers
Fatih Kurtcu (2026–27) : The role of letterpress in fundamental typography education
Fabiana Candida (2025) : Multigraphism in type design: the case of Salentino Greek. Visiting researcher from the Sapienza University (Rome).
Filip Paldia (2024) : Research and development of generative neural networks for type design. Visiting researcher from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava.
Eduardo Novais (2018–19) : Methodology for the teaching of calligraphy in undergraduate courses of graphic design. Visiting researcher from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.