Margaret Calvert unveils first ever print, Woman at Work

Renowned British graphic designer and typographer Margaret Calvert has released her first print, playing on her iconic work for the UK’s road signs with Woman at Work. Originally created by Calvert in 2008 as a canvas piece, and now developed with and screenprinted by London’s Jealous Gallery, the print uses the same style of her pictograms for the original road signs designed in the 1960s, particularly “Man at Work” – depicting a man digging, usually used to denote roadworks. The new artwork is a redesigned version of this ubiquitous image, reimagining it with a female, longer-haired, skirt-wearing worker.

“Not every project I’ve been involved in turns out as brilliantly as my Woman at Work print,” Margaret comments, “having started life as an abandoned roadworks sign (jokingly referred to as a man having difficulty with a large umbrella) and ending up as a painting in the Royal Academy’s 2008 Summer exhibition. Now translated into a magnificent print by the superb skills of Matthew Rich, giving it a completely new dimension. The experience of working with the Jealous team has been inspirational.”

Calvert is best known for designing – together with Jock Kinneir – many of the UK’s road signs, still used around the country today, as well as the Transport font used on the signs, which later was further developed into New Transport for Gov.uk. She was also behind the Rail typeface used on the British railway network, and has created commercial fonts for the likes of Monotype.

Woman at Work is a 16-colour screenprint on Somerset Tub Size 410gsm paper, made in an edition of 25 and accepted by the V&A into their permanent print collection. It has been created by Jealous Gallery for the London Original Print Fair on from 3-6 May 2018 at Royal Academy of Arts, London.