A graphic design piece featuring the word “typography” repeated and layered in a bold, sans-serif font. The letters overlap in white, red and grey against a dark grey background.

Celebrating the posters designers have made for their Typo Circle talks

Words: Rob Alderson
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Date: 2 April 2015; Work
Graphic Design

The Typographic Circle (like The Magic Circle but with less rabbits-in-hats and more font chat) was founded nearly 40 years ago and is still going strong in its mission to “bring together anyone with an interest in type and typography.”

Its regular talks are popular fixtures on the creative calendar and have welcomed some of graphic design’s most relevant and important figures over the years (including our own founder Will Hudson). Each speaker is invited to design the poster for their own event and this has led to a terrific archive created by top designers to promote, well, themselves. We had a root through them and selected some of our favourites but you too can rifle through the archive over here.

Tonight The Typo Circle welcomes Craig Oldham, who recently released his stunning visual history of the Miners’ Strike. The talk takes place at 7pm at The St Bride Foundation in London – you can buy tickets here.

A typographic poster featuring a grid of black letters and numbers on a white and orange background. The layout resembles a specimen sheet, with various weights and sizes of the characters “A” and “2”. Vertical text on the right reads “The Typographic Circle”, “Pentagram” and “www.typocircle.co.uk”. — Above
Henrik Kubel: Typo Circle Poster

A typographic poster on a teal background features the word “Typadelic!” rendered in white, flowing ribbons. The letters intertwine and overlap in a psychedelic, 3D style. Below the graphic, a white banner reads “Airside: Typadelic!”. Smaller text provides event details for The Typographic Circle on 24 June 2010. — Above
Airside: Typo Circle Poster

Above

Angus Hyland: Typo Circle Poster

A graphic poster featuring large, overlapping letters in yellow and grey. Text at the top reads “The Typographic Circle” and “Jonathan Barnbrook Lecture”, with the date “23/10/08” and a London address. — Above
Jonathan Barnbrook: Typo Circle Poster

A minimalist poster featuring a large, bright pink balloon against a teal background. Small, vertical text runs along the bottom right edge, including the word “typ”. — Above
Noma Bar: Typo Circle Poster

A bold yellow and black poster divided into a grid of rectangles. Text in the top left reads “Simon Esterson Making Magazines 31/3/2011”. — Above
Simon Esterson: Typo Circle Poster

An illustration of numerous small, black silhouetted figures and animals scattered across a turquoise background. The figures are drawn in a naive, sketchy style, engaged in various activities like cycling, playing music and walking dogs. At the bottom, a line of text provides event details for “Typcircle” on 27 March 2019 at “Nait London”. — Above
Tom Gauld: Typo Circle Poster

A typographic poster on a pink background features large blue text that reads “I USED TO BE A DESIGNER”. The word “DESIGNER” is split across two lines by a hyphen. Small credits and contact details are listed along the bottom edge. — Above
Will Hudson: Typo Circle Poster

A checklist titled “Which of the following statements accurately describes your creative profession:” lists over 100 job titles. The options range from standard roles like “Art Director” and “Copywriter” to playful descriptors such as “Asshole” and “Mac Monkey”. — Above
Craig Oldham: Typo Circle Poster

A typographic poster featuring the word “Typography” broken across several lines. The white letters are layered with red and grey versions of themselves, creating a blurred, offset effect. — Above
Harry Pearce: Typo Circle Poster

Further Info

www.typocircle.com

About the Author

Rob Alderson

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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

Celebrating the posters designers have made for their Typo Circle talks

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