“You can be sure of Shell”
After completing his studies at Chelsea, Jock is one of several young artists commissioned to produce imagery for Shell.
Timeline
Review our chronological survey contextualising Jock Kinneir’s personal life, teaching and education, and design practice.
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Takes role at Central Office of Information
Immediately following WWII, working at COI, Jock is responsible for the display design of the ‘Polar’ section in the Dome of Discovery at the 1951 Festival of Britain.
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Joins Design Research Unit
Jock worked with Misha Black and Milner Gray at Design Research Unit through to 1956.
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Starts his own business
In 1952 Jock starts his own business. By 1956 he is renting a small office above a garage at 3, Old Barrack Yard, Knightsbridge.
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Kinneir begins work on signage for Gatwick Airport
Through a conversation at a bus stop with one of the architects working on Gatwick Airport, Jock secured a project which was to define his practice.
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Margaret Calvert becomes Jock Kinneir’s assistant
After being asked to develop signage for Gatwick Airport, Jock asks his graduating Chelsea student Margaret Calvert to be his assistant.
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P&O-Orient Lines Luggage Labels
After seeing their work for Gatwick, Colin Anderson of P&O asks Jock to develop a suite of labels to be read by people of different languages and levels of literacy around the world.
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UK’s first full length motorway opens
Jock and Margaret drive down what is an empty Preston Bypass admiring the first set of full size signs in situ.
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Typography in Britain Today
Exhibition of 37 designers organised by publisher Lund Humphries.
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First Things First
Graphic designer Ken Garland publishes his First Things First manifesto. Though he was not a signatory, Jock Kinneir agreed: “Designers oriented in this direction are concerned less with persuasion and more with information…”
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Kinneir Calvert Associates forms
Kinneir Associates becomes Kinneir Calvert Associates with Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir becoming business partners, continuing their practice from 3 Old Barrack Yard, London.
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“…he had a quite up-to-date modernness”
Junior designer Andrew Haig joins Kinneir Calvert Associates. Here he describes Jock’s thinking, day-to-day studio life and working with the team.
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International Civil Aviation Organisation meeting
Jock Kinneir travelled to Montreal to act as advisor to the UK delegate at the International Civil Aviation Organisation meeting.
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Kinneir Calvert Tuhill formed
Soon after graduating, 1969 RCA graduate David Tuhill joined the firm.
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Captain Cook’s Florilegium published by the Lion and Unicorn Press
A printing press was established at the RCA in 1953. On arriving at the RCA in 1964 Jock Kinneir joined an already two year long project Captain Cooks Florilegium through to the final publication of its two issues in 1973.
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Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines – the visual treatment for a new town
Kinneir Calvert Associates were invited to propose a holistic approach towards the identity and visual treatment for a new French city south of Paris, Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines