History
The Society was founded in 1928 as the British Typographers Guild and is now a company limited by guarantee with a Board of directors and a growing international membership.
ISTD has come a long way since its inception, when Vincent Steer and friends met in an Italian restaurant in Holborn, for the first meeting of the society. They would perhaps be surprised at the status and outreach that ISTD has since achieved, but would surely be gratified to see that the principles that drove them haven’t lost their relevance and are still being adhered to today.
ISTD has pioneering roots. From as early as 1911 Vincent Steer’s business card described him as an 'Advertsing Typographer'. He astutely 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 the early 1950s the name was changed to the Society of Typographic Designers, STD. Nearly 50 years later to recognize growing influence in other countries and at the behest of then President Colin Banks, STD became ISTD, the International Society of Typographic Designers.
Now recognised as the authoritative body for typography, and with continuing recognition internationally, ISTD still keeps sight of its ‘original’ purpose, as described by founder, Vincent Steer: ‘ … to bring together in friendship and mutual help, all those with a love of the printed word’.
ISTD recognises that, with the ever-broadening role of the 'graphic' designer, there is an even greater need to share experience and dialogue with its members, design students and educators, the wider industry and related organisations. ISTD's aim is to inform, create and inspire interest in typographic communication to the widest possible audience.