Overview
Our PhD research programmes will allow you to explore your own interests in the area of graphic design and typography, supported by the expertise of our staff.
Informed by your particular discipline, you’ll frame your research within the context of current critical debates, examining modern production and dissemination methods used both nationally and internationally. Your research can be practice-led and conducted primarily through design projects.
You’ll be allocated two supervisors, with additional staff members available if necessary. Our supervisors are experienced in most areas of graphic design and typography, with a focus on type design and type history.
At Cambridge School of Art, you’ll be part of a vibrant and growing community of researchers working in many different fields. We provide various research forums that accentuate the interdisciplinary nature of our research, including the Typographic Research Group, and have strong links with many professional organisations, including Atypi, Typographic Research Initiative, Typecon (USA) and various critical and professional journals. You’ll have the chance to participate in publications, exhibitions and conferences, gaining valuable research experience and contributing to Cambridge School of Art’s critical culture.
All your subject-specific studies will be enhanced and supported by our University-wide training sessions, where you’ll gain important research expertise in areas like ethics, presentations, intellectual property and digital scholarship.
Supervision and Support
You’ll be supervised and supported by staff who have recognised expertise in both professional practice and research of graphic design and typography, at national and international level. Our staff include:
Will Hill: type, lettering and the use of visual language in a wide range of contexts across the applied and the fine arts, including work on vernacular lettering in eastern Europe, the design of experimental display typefaces and research on revivals and historic references in type design.
Jon Melton: categorising and contextualising of display and ornamented types of the nineteenth century; eighteenth- and nineteenth-century applied arts, furniture, interiors and architecture.
Your department and faculty
At Cambridge School of Art, we combine the traditions of our past with the possibilities afforded by the latest technologies.
Using our expertise and connections in Cambridge and beyond, we nurture creativity through experimentation and risk-taking to empower the makers and creators of the future.
Our academics excel at both practice and theory, making a real impact in their chosen fields, whether they are curating exhibitions, designing book covers or photographing communities in Africa. They are also regularly published in catalogues, books, journals and conference papers, their research classed as being of ‘international standing’, with some elements ‘world-leading’, in the most recent Research Excellence Framework.
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