The Type Directors Club has presented the TDC Medal to UK typographer Dr. Fiona Ross, who has been responsible for some of the world's most influential typefaces for over five decades. Ross is the thirty-first recipient of the TDC Medal, which was first awarded to Hermann Zapf in 1967 to honor his contributions to typography. Ross joins a prestigious list of medalists that include Paul Rand, Matthew Carter, Erik Spiekermann, Adrian Frutiger, Gerrit Noordzij, Paula Scher, Louise Fili, Ed Benguiat, Matthew Carter, and most recently, Gerard Unger.
"Fiona is an amazing woman of high intellect and integrity who has promoted greater understanding and appreciation the many, diverse non-Latin typefaces throughout her years working for Linotype earlier in her career and now as one of the most beloved professors in academia," TDC executive director Carol Wahler said. "We unanimously decided to give her the TDC Medal honor her influence and accomplishments in the type community."
Ross, who began working at Linotype in 1978, became its first female manager when she assumed leadership of the non-Latin typographic department, which created designs that are some of the most widely used in the world. Currently, she collaborates with Tiro Typeworks on new typefaces and consults for other foundries. At the University of Reading, she lectures on non-Latin typeface design and advises students in the postgraduate typography and graphic communication program. Her book, The Printed Bengali Character and Its Evolution, is one of the primary resources on typography for a language spoken by over 250 million people throughout the world.