Catherine Dixon

Recent articles by Catherine Dixon

A celebration of sans

Issue 104, Spring 2023

Review

If, by setting out its content on its cover, a book could be said to wear…

Signs of street life

Issue 101, Summer 2021

Review

At a time when many of us know our location all too well, having been…

Strategy is never enough

Issue 94, Summer 2017

Feature

In these information-saturated, cash-strapped times, David Pye’s concept of ‘workmanship’ has much to teach us

Quiet man of letters

Issue 86, Autumn 2013

Feature

Alan Bartram brought a perceptive eye to alphabetic detail in public spaces. Catherine Dixon pays tribute to the co-author of An Atlas of Typeforms

A visual map from A to Z

Issue 71, Spring 2009

Review

This book is the clearest introduction I’ve read to the story of how the alphabet…

Letters from a partial history

Issue 39, Spring 2001

Review

Rudolf Koch was a man whose love of letterforms shaped a career that was to…

Terms of reference

Issue 68, Summer 2008

Feature

A modest dictionary of print terms has been a source of inspiration for 60 years.

A million stories in the naked city

Issue 81, Autumn 2011

Review

The Light Surgeons’ LDN-Redux, which premiered in São Paulo in July, is a 35-minute audiovisual…

Catherine Dixon

Issue 71, Spring 2009

Feature

‘Serifs are the new sans’

Sense of place

Issue 58, Winter 2005

Feature

Three new typefaces for local institutions draw on Sheffield’s cultural and typographic history

Letter rich Lisbon

Issue 54, Winter 2004

Feature

Nicolete Gray’s 1960s snaps inspire a re-examination of the capital’s streetscape

Recent blog posts about Catherine Dixon

Village people

20 September 2014
Design history, Graphic design, Typography

Ditchling’s elegantly revamped museum places Eric Gill in the everyday context of extraordinary craftspeople
The small Sussex village of Ditchling, near the South Coast of England, was in 190…

Something to say

7 November 2012
Design education, Design history, Graphic design, Technology, Typography

The current vogue for letterpress is more than mere retro-nostalgia, writes Catherine Dixon in the run-up to Friday’s St Bride conference.
Letterpress is everywhere, writes Catherine Dixon (co-organiser of ‘Letterpress: Something to Say’). Once a boutique…

Can design do what?

25 May 2012
Design education, Graphic design, Illustration, Technology, Visual culture

Dutch conference looks at the potential of design to address social problems
What design can do! (WDCD) was a two-day conference, held earlier this month in Amsterdam, that…

Type Tuesday

23 January 2012
Graphic design, Typography, Visual culture

Quirky ligatures and swash characters: serifs are the new sans
Are we living in a golden age of type? This is a time of consolidation…

Letterpress: a lingering impression

5 November 2011

A week before a one-day event at the St Bride Foundation in London, a survey of recent activities which explore the enduring relevance of letterpress.
Letterpress is everywhere. First, it was a boutique fashion of designer-types. Now it’s in John…