Dr Alice Savoie
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Visiting Research Fellow
Areas of interest
My work sits at the intersection of typeface design, typographic history, and design research. I examine how technological change has shaped typographic practice, from industrial production to digital tools, and the technical and social consequences of these shifts across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A recurring strand of my research addresses the place of women in typographic history. I am also interested in the contemporary role of type design in the digital humanities.Research centres and groups
I am an independent typeface designer, as well as a lecturer and researcher at the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique (Nancy, France) and ÉCAL (Lausanne, Switzerland). Since 2025 I am an associate member of the SAPRAT research laboratory (EPHE, PSL). I also co-direct the Pamphlets series at Poem Éditions (Frankfurt).
Research projects
My research combines archival work, oral history, and practice-led enquiry, with particular attention to the processes, infrastructures and labour behind type production. Recent and current funded projects include:
Reception of the New Typography in Francophone Graphic Scenes: Rejections, Adoptions, Renegotiations (1925–1979), senior researcher, ECAL Lausanne (2025–2028).
Type Tomorrow: Experiencing AI’s Impact on the Future of Typeface Design, co-applicant, ECAL Lausanne (2024–2025).
WYSIWYG: Uptake of Graphic Design Software in Switzerland and France, 1980–2000, scientific committee member, HEAD Genève (2024–2027).
Beyond Bézier: Explorations of Drawing Methods in Type Design, researcher, ECAL Lausanne (2023–2025).
Women in Type: A Social History of Women’s Role in Type Drawing Offices, 1910–1990, postdoctoral researcher, University of Reading (2018–2021).
Ladislas Mandel: Everyday Type Design at the Intersection of Technology and Culture, researcher, ÉSAD Amiens (2015–2017).
I contribute to doctoral training through co-supervision across institutions (ANRT Nancy in partnership with University of Reading, EPHE, Université Paris 8), with projects spanning typographic archives, material culture, and the history of typesetting technologies.
I also organise research events and curate exhibitions, including Icônes (Susan Kare) with J. Belletante at the Musée de l’imprimerie et de la communication graphique in Lyon (2022), and the symposium Expanding the design canon (2021) with Prof. F. Ross, in partnership with the University of Reading and St Bride Printing Library.
Academic qualifications
PhD in Type History, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication, University of Reading (2014)
'International Cross-Currents in Typeface Design: France, Britain and the USA in the Phototypesetting Era'. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
MA Typeface Design (with distinction), University of Reading (2007)
Diplôme Supérieur en Arts Appliqués (DSAA), Typeface Design (with distinction), ÉSAIG Estienne, Paris (2006)
BTS Communication Visuelle (Publishing pathway), ÉSAA Duperré, Paris (2004)
Selected publications
Savoie, A., Bernau, K., Daly, W., Haefliger, R., & Baez-Lugo, S. (2026). 'Automation and artificial intelligence in the type design process: Insights from an industry survey'. Visible Language, 60(1), 24–57.
Savoie, A. (2025) ‘Beatrice Warde, témoin de son temps’, in Warde, B. Le livre du futur ou que veut dire moderne? Paris: T&P Publishing, pp. 19–38.
Ross, F. and Savoie, A. (2024) ‘Women in Type: Investigating Women’s Role in Type-Drawing Offices, 1910–1990’, in The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900–2020. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 594–617.
Savoie, A. (2020) ‘The Women Behind Times New Roman’, Journal of Design History, 33(3), pp. 209–24.
Ross, F. and Savoie, A. (2021) ‘Dora Pritchett, Dora Laing, Patricia Saunders: The Invisible Women of Monotype’s Type Drawing Office’, in Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 110–19.
Savoie, A. (2021) ‘Les processus de création typographique’, in Dialogues typographiques: à la poursuite du livre rêvé par Jean Giono et Maximilien Vox. Centre Jean Giono, Rencontres internationales de Lure, pp. 108–27.
Savoie, A. (2016) ‘La typographie en pleine mutation’ and ‘Concevoir de nouveaux caractères pour la photocomposition’, in Histoire de l’écriture typographique, le XXe siècle, vol. II. Perrousseaux éditeur, pp. 10–49.
Savoie, A. (2014) ‘Dessiner la recherche en typographie’, Graphisme en France 2014. Paris: Centre national des arts plastiques, pp. 49–61.