Emeritus Professor Michael Twyman 1934–2025

We are sad to announce that Professor Michael Twyman, an Emeritus Professor in Typography who pioneered an entirely new academic discipline at Reading, has died aged 91.

Michael came to Reading as a student in our School of Art in 1953. He specialised in what was called ‘Advanced design and book production’ and it was then that he began to be involved in making colour lithographs and reading about this history of letterforms, printing and book design.

After graduating in 1957 he was awarded a University scholarship to undertake research on the history of lithography, and he combined with this with a postgraduate qualification in education at Cambridge University.

‘Design for reading’ vision

In 1959, J. Anthony Betts, Professor of Art, invited him back to teach typography, taking over from William McCance.

It became clear to Michael that typography teaching needed a rigorous approach not unlike the teaching of architecture that combined history, theory and practice.

His vision for ‘Design for reading’ intertwined history, theory and practice in graphic design, typeface design, information design, and book design. In so doing it drew on linguistics, psychology, social and economic history and other social sciences and humanities disciplines that feed in aspects of typography and graphic communication. 

He introduced study tours to Rome and Florence to study lettering and architecture - based on his own student experience with art historian, Leopold Ettlinger. Following the model of Reading’s university farms, where agriculture students acquired practical skills, typography students were taught and supervised by trade printers, setting and printing metal and wood type to learn about the intricacies of spacing, visual hierarchy, house style and handling of ink and paper.

In 1968, a degree in Typography & Graphic Communication was ratified and in 1974 a Department of the same name. The course attracted students from all kinds of disciplines and backgrounds and was quickly recognised for its innovative approach.

One of Michael’s greatest achievements and pleasures was, from the late 1970s, working with PhD students to enhance theoretical and historical dimensions of typographic design and graphic communication.

His innovative and excellent PhD provision was recognised through external studentships, including from Brazil. These connections led collaborations and formal agreements with Brazilian universities and individuals, keen to extend the reach of Michael’s work.

Publishing and collections

Michael wrote many award-winning books and papers, notably about the history of lithographic printing. He was honoured to be asked to deliver the British Library’s Panizzi lectures in 2000.

After his retirement from the University in 1998, he was able to pursue his ambition of writing a book about lithographic printing in colour: A history of chromolithography: printed colour for all, (British Library in 2013). His most recent publication, based on books and ephemera from his personal collection was Reproducing the Bayeux Tapestry over three centuries (Printing Historical Society, 2024) with a dedication to his daughter Nikky who sadly died at the time of publication.

All his publications are highly-illustrated and many are designed with his input to ensure careful integration of text and image.

Michael believed passionately that his students should engage with and learn from looking at original documents and artefacts. Thanks to him, working in close collaboration with university librarians and archivists, the University holds outstanding collections in printing, graphic and typographic design and publishing history and printed ephemera.

To define and raise the profile of printed ephemera Michael initiated and directed the Department’s Centre for Ephemera Studies, opened by Lord Briggs in 1993, that became a national focus for research into non-book documents, both manuscript and printed.

The ground-breaking Encyclopaedia of Ephemera (British Library and Oak Knoll, 2000) led to collaboration with museums and libraries, including the Library of Congress, in developing descriptive frameworks for the cataloguing of ephemera.

Promoting ephemera studies, he published and lectured widely in the UK, America, Europe and Australia and the Centre benefits from ongoing collaboration with UK libraries and museums, including the British Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Bodleian Library.

Recognition and legacy

Twyman received the Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Services to Design Education, and his vision was recognised through the Queens Anniversary Prize for Reading in 2011 that recognised a ‘world-leading centre of typographic teaching and research: design for reading’. Reading awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2008.

His legacy is not just the Department he founded but a unique approach to visual communication as rational thinking that is transferable and applicable to any new media or platform, that can respond to the challenge of the digital economy through focused research and relevant application though strong links with industry, and that has developed the discipline through high-quality research, publications and collections.

Many students remain connected with what we refer to as ‘the Department’, and in the last weeks of his life Michael received with much pleasure notes and cards thanking him for making a difference to their lives.

At his request, there will be no funeral and his family have asked that we celebrate his life in his beloved Department in 2026.

Michael is survived by his wife, Nin, who studied with him in the School of Art, his sons, Jeremy and Daniel, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild who very much enjoyed celebrating his and Nin’s 90^th birthdays.

Written by Professor Sue Walker, Typography & Graphic Communication