Jessica Glaser
After a career as senior designer in a number of design consultancies, Jessica Glaser is now an associate Senior Lecturer in Graphic Communication at the University of Wolverhampton and partner in Bright Pink Communication Design.
She is also a part-time PhD student at Birmingham City University. She has written a number of books on design and typography, including The Graphic Design Exercise Book. She is a regular contributor to conferences and has articles published by online magazine, Smashing.
Her most recent work is the biography of Beatrice Warde for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and her chapter on Warde’s anglo-American book exchange, Books Across the Sea, is due for publication by Peter Lang Publishers.
Current Activity
- Typography
- Branding
- Editorial design
- Visual identity
- Typographic history: the life and work of Beatrice Warde
Qualifications
- PG Cert in Research - Birmingham City University
- MA in Visual Communication - University of Wolverhampton
- BA (Hons) Graphic Design - Birmingham Polytechnic
Memberships
Jessica Glaser is fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Printing Historical Society and on the Executive Committee of the Centre for Printing History and Culture.
Research
First Lady of Typography: How did a woman in the Twentieth Century printing industry see and present herself to progress her career? A case study of Beatrice Warde
In the Twentieth Century, printing was a male dominated industry. Women for the most part adopted menial roles with little opportunity for progression, training or fair remuneration.
One notable exception to this was Beatrice Warde, renowned as The First Lady of Typography. Born in 1900, she was a middle-class American who moved to Britain in 1925.
She became best known for her work as Publicity Manager to the British Monotype Corporation and her contribution to typographic history, theory and practice.
A lone female voice in the printing industry, her popularity outwardly challenged long-standing expectations that gender and paternity were prerequisites for a prosperous career in printing.
This thesis examines how Warde, young female and foreign, with no experience in printing transcended traditional boundaries to progress her career.
However, this study is not a biography of Warde; instead, through a critical reading of her published writing, hitherto unknown personal correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, photographs and recordings, it sheds new light on the environment, circumstances, connections, strategies and skills that enabled her to recognise her career potential and present herself in the printing industry during the critical period of the twentieth-century typographic renaissance.
Postgraduate Supervision
- Caroline Archer Parré
- Anne Boultwood
Publications
Books
Glaser J., Knight K. (2003) Layout: Making it Fit - Finding the Right Balance Between Space and Content. Rockport, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Glaser J., Knight K. (2005) The Graphic Designer's Guide to Effective Visual Communication: Creating Hierarchies with Type Image, and Color. Rotovision, Hove. Glaser J., Knight K. (2006) Sticky Graphics: Create Memorable Graphic Design Using Mnemonics and Visual Hooks. Rotovision, Hove. Glaser J., Knight K. (2006) Create Impact with Type, Image, and Color. Rotovision, Hove.
Glaser J., Knight K. (2008) Print and Production Finishes for Bags, Labels, and Point of Purchase. Rotovision, Hove.
Glaser J., Knight K. (2009) Diagrams. Rotovision, Hove.
Glaser J., Knight K. (2010) The Graphic Design Exercise Book. Rotovision, Hove.
Glaser J. et al. (2010) Print Formats and Finishes: The Designer's Illustrated Guide to Brochures, Catalogues, Bags, Labels, Packaging, and Promotion. Rotovision, Hove.
Glaser J., Knight K. (2011) Ejercicios de diseño gráfico : cuaderno práctico. Editorial Gustavo Gili, Barcelona
Glaser J., Knight K. (2011) Diagramas Grandes ejemplos de infografía contemporánea. Editorial Gustavo Gili, Barcelona
Glaser J, Kruse S (2013) The Library of Lost Books: The Rescue and Remaking of Discarded Library Books. LOLB Press, Birmingham.
Glaser J, (2014) The Graphic Design Exercise Book 2. Francis Lincoln, London.
Glaser J, (2014) The Graphic Design Exercise Book 2. How Books, Cincinnati.
Conferences
Glaser J. (2013) Type Makes A Difference: An Exploration Of Type- Focused Websites. Smashing Magazine, [online] Available at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/10/15/an-exploration-oftype- focused-websites/ [Accessed 16 October 2013]
Glaser J. (2013) The Role of Drawing Within the Development and Realisation of Designing with Type in the Context of Book Design. Resurrecting the Book 2013 Conference, The Library of Birmingham UK
Glaser J. (2014) Sex Appeal: the use of Graphic design to create specific gender appeal. BK21 Plus Da Vinci Innovative Artist RDG within SungKyunKwan University Korea
Glaser J. (2014) Recent Research Into the Role of Typography Within Gendered Graphic Communication. Typography Symposium for Type talks, Birmingham City University
Glaser J. (2014) The Seductive Impact of Type: Initial Psychological Factors that Influence Type in Branding Typography Social Science Conference Faculty of Education, Law and Social Science, Birmingham City University
Glaser J. (2014) Choices, Assessments and Judgments: How Graphic Designers Account for Typographic Selections and Choices in Branding 2nd International Colloquium on Design, Branding and Marketing, Nottingham Trent University
Glaser J. (2015) The Postulated Reader – Conversations In Type: Grammar, Syntax And Composition SoVC conference Birmingham City University
Glaser J. (2016) The Wartime Legacy of Beatrice Warde: Books Across The Sea The Centre for Print History and Culture. University of Birmingham
Glaser J. (2016) Block Letters for Block Heads The Centre for Print History and Culture, Song of The Sans Serif Conference. Birmingham City University
Glaser J. (2017) Beatrice Warde, May Lamberton Becker and Books Across the Sea The Printing Historical Society, From Craft to Technology and Back Again: Prints’ Progress in the Twentieth Century. National Print Museum, Dublin
Glaser J. (2017) Books as Weapons. Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study University of London, Information and its Communication in Wartime. Senate House, University of London
Chapters
Glaser J., Knight K. ‘When Typography Speaks Louder Than Words’. in Legacy of Typography edited by Andrew Rogerson (Freiburg Smashing Media GmbH published Summer 2013) ISBN PDF version: 978-3-943075-54-0 ISBN EPUB version: 978-3-94454000-9 ISBN Kindle version: 978-3-94454001-6
Glaser J., Knight K. ‘Drawing: The Creative Way to Maximise Design Ideas with Type’. in Typography Best Practices edited by Andrew Rogerson (Freiburg Smashing Media GmbH published Summer 2013) ISBN PDF version: 978-3-943075-55-7 ISBN EPUB version: 978-3-94454002-3 ISBN Kindle Version: 978-3-94454003-0
Glaser J., Knight K. ‘Why subtle typographic choices make all the difference’. in Typography Best Practices edited by Andrew Rogerson (Freiburg Smashing Media GmbH published Summer 2013) ISBN PDF version: 978-3-943075-55-7 ISBN EPUB version: 978-3-94454002-3 ISBN Kindle Version: 978-3-94454003-0
Glaser J., Knight K. ‘Creating a Lasting Impression’. in Creativity Lessons For Web designers edited by Cosima Mielke (Freiburg Smashing Media GmbH published Autumn 2013) ISBN PDF version: 978-3-94454039-9 ISBN EPUB version: 978-3-94454040-5 ISBN MOBI version: 978-3-94454041-2
Glaser J.,’Web design’ in Graphic Design School edited by Kate Kirby (Wiley publishing Autumn 2013)
Glaser J., ‘Creating Exciting and Unusual Visual Hierarchies’. in Typography: considerations and Design patterns edited by Cosima Mielke (Freiburg Smashing Media GmbH published August 2014) The ISBN (PDF) 978-3-94454076-4 The ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-94454077-1 The ISBN (Kindle) 978-3-94454078-8
Glaser J., ‘Type Makes a Difference: An Exploration of Type Focussed Websites’. in Typography: considerations and Design patterns edited by Cosima
Pending publications
Glaser J, ‘Beatrice Warde and Books Across the Sea’ in Roberto and Alexiou, ed. Women in Print, Oxford: Peter Lang (publication pending)