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ROSMARY SASSOONN

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Information about the font designer Rosemary Sassoon and her typefaces.

Rosemary Sassoon has been involved in letterforms all her life. She trained and worked as a scribe and designer, before investigating methods of teaching calligraphy and using it as a decorative art to help bring it back to public notice in the 60s and 70s. She has specialised in the educational and medical aspects of handwriting since 1980. The University of Reading awarded her a Ph.D. for her work on the Effects of Models and Teaching Methods on Joining Strokes in Children's Handwriting.

Research with children led to the design of the Sassoon Primary typeface which was intended for reading. She discovered that no one had previously consulted and tested children for their preferences. To date there are over a dozen typefaces in the family for different educational purposes - for teaching handwriting as well as reading. Her interests have extended to the design of educational software and how typographical design factors can influence the assimilation of knowledge from the screen.

Recent publications reflect her wide interests. They include: The Acquisition of a Second Writing System, which deals with many of her multicultural concerns in education in particular, The Art and Science of Handwriting which ranges from the therapeutic aspects to advice for curriculum planners, Handwriting of the Twentieth Century, an historical study, Signs Symbols and Icons, and Computers and Typography, and the Designer 50 Years of Change - in Image, Training and Techniques. All published by Intellect Books.