International Society of Typographic Designers
organization
The International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) is a professional body run by and for typographers, graphic designers, and educators. The society has an international membership and its aims are to establish and maintain standards of typography and to provide a forum for debate.
History
The ISTD was originally formed as the British Typographers' Guild (BTG) in 1928, when Vincent Steer and friends met in a Sicilian restaurant in Holborn, to found the society. Steer recognized the need and the potential for the creative typographer's skills in a world where most 'design' was carried out through compositors' layouts. From his own background in printing, and the opportunity to observe the trade in America, he determined to develop the profession of typography in the UK, and to that end started the British Typographers Guild with six other like-minded founding members.
In 1953 the guild became the Society of Typographic Designers (STD), and in 1999, recognizing its influence in other countries, and at the behest of then President Colin Banks, it became the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD).
TypoGraphic
TypoGraphic is the journal of the ISTD and was first published in 1971. Selected writings from 30 years of TypoGraphic were published in an anthology in 2001.
A complete set of TypoGraphic journals is available at the St Bride Library.
ISTD International Typographic Awards
The ISTD runs the International Typographic Awards which are held as an appraisal of current standards in typographic design and are judged by some of today's leading graphic, interactive and typographic design specialists:
A Certificate of Excellence, awarded to all finalists, signifies a high standard of design in conjunction with a high standard of typography.
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