Professor Teal Triggs
- Postgraduate Research Lead
- Communication MPhil/PhD
Teal is an educator, historian and writer whose research focuses primarily on graphic design history, criticism, design research methods, self-publishing and feminism.
Teal is a leading figure in the scholarship of graphic design history, especially around feminist practices, independent publishing and design education. She is co-founder of the Women’s Design + Research Unit (WD+RU) and an advocate for graphic design practices that are inclusive, ethically grounded and historically aware.
Teal is a founder co-lead of the RCA’s Friction Research Group (FRG) which aims to bring a new lens to graphic design and communication practices (with Joseph Pochodzaj and Professor Neville Brody). Her design research focuses on participatory practices, community archives, and intercultural communication. This includes archive projects with Munduruku craft communities in Brazil and supporting the development of an advocacy archive in South London. She is currently principal on a three-year Trans-Atlantic Platform funded project ‘Graphic Design Histories for Creative Dissent: Archiving and Ethical Challenges’ with partners in Brazil, South Africa and United Kingdom.
Teal’s books include The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury, 2019, co-edited), Fanzines (Thames & Hudson, 2010), The Typographic Experiment (Thames & Hudson, 2003) and ‘Below Critical Radar’: Fanzines and alternative comics from 1976 to now (Codex, 2000, co-edited). She is also author of the award-winning children’s book The School of Art (Wide Eyed Editions, 2015, editions in English, Korean, French, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese).
She is co-Editor for the academic journal Design Issues (MIT Press) and previously was Editor-in-Chief for Communication Design (Taylor & Francis) and co-Editor of Visual Communication (Sage). She is on editorial boards for journals including, Journal of Illustration (Intellect), Estudos em Design (PUC-Rio, Brazil), Message Journal (Communication Arts Research, Plymouth University), Shi-Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics and Innovation (Tongji University/Elsevier, China).
Teal has a BFA (Hons) in American Studies and Graphic Design (University of Texas at Austin) and two Master’s in Art History and Design History (University of Texas at Austin, Middlesex University) and a PhD (University of Reading). Her doctoral thesis was on the politics and graphic language of British punk and riot grrrl fanzines. Teal was an Adjunct Professor, School of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Australia, and Visiting Professor, Durban University of Technology, South Africa.
She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), Fellow of the Design Research Society (FDRS), Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufacture (FRSA), Fellow of the Royal College of Art (FRCA) and Fellow of the International Society of Typographic Designers (FiSTD).
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Practice
The role of the practitioner-historian and the archive are common threads in her work which often argues for a more inclusive and diverse canon that considers the designer and their ‘act of making’. Teal co-founded the Women’s Design + Research Unit (WD+RU) in 1994, whose aim is to raise awareness for women working in visual communication while also addressing issues such as those affecting women in design education.
Publications, exhibitions, other outcomes
Books
Triggs, T. (forthcoming, 2028) Fleur Cowles by Design: The History of Flair Magazine and its Editor. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Triggs, T. and Atzmon, L. (eds) (2019) The Graphic Design Reader, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Triggs, T. (Author) with Frost, D. (Illustration) (2015) The School of Art (children’s activity book) London: Wide Eye Editions.
Triggs, T. Shaughnessy, A. and, Gerber A. (eds) (2015) GraphicsRCA: Fifty Years and Beyond. London: Royal College of Art.
Triggs, T. (2010) Fanzines: The DIY Revolution (Thames & Hudson, UK) with co-publication/translation: Fanzines: The DIY Revolution (Chronicle Books, USA) and La Revolution du DIY (Pyramyd, French Edition).
Project Reports
Triggs, T. and Pochodzaj (eds) (2026) Radical Archiving for Change: The Advocacy Academy. London: Royal College of Art and The Advocacy Academy.
Triggs, T., Cook, S. Allan, L and Potter, S. (2022) Brave New Normal: Intergenerational Mentoring for Women in Graphic Design, London: Royal College of Art, WD+RU, and HWoD.
Triggs, T., Matsunaga, C., and Lewis, M. (2022) Building a Library for the Future: Munduruku Craft Practices and Indigenous Knowledge, London: Royal College of Art.
Journal & Zine Articles
Triggs, T. (2025) ‘Food Bags: A Personal Journey’, In Tim Sumner (ed) To Have and To Hold, Issue 5, Yorkshire: Collect Editions.
Triggs, T. (2024) ‘Introduction: Life in the Age of Quaranzines’. In Walker, N. and Clempson, C.,
(2021) The Zine Symposium. York University. pp.4-13.
Triggs, T., Matsunaga C. and Lewis, M. (2024) ‘Critical Ethics for Communicating Indigenous Craft
Practices’. Journal of Design History 37(3), September, pp.236-255.
Book Chapters
Triggs, T. (2024) ‘Art School Studios: Three Vignettes’, In Emily Furnell and Emily Hawes (eds) What is a Studio Anyway? London: Press on That. pp.15-36.
Triggs, T. (2021) ‘Signs of the Everyday, Every Day’ In Dyer, J. and Deakin, N., (eds) Graphic Events. Eindhoven: Onomatopee Publisher.
Triggs, T. (2021) ‘The Critical Turn: Education of a Design Writer’ In Brad Haylock and Luke Wood (eds), One and Many Mirrors: Perspectives on Graphic Design Education. London: Occasional Papers.
Triggs, T. (2018) ‘The Stuff of Things’ In Patrick Fry Great British Rubbish: A History of Ephemera from the Land of Lost Content. London: CentreCentre. pp.15-19.
Triggs, T. (2017) ‘Sites of Graphic Design Criticism: New Spaces, New Critics.’ EDL2016: Design, Identity and Complexity. Lisbon, Portugal. pp. 102-118.
Triggs, T. (2017) ‘GraphicsRCA: The Academy and the Archive’. In Graphic Design: Giving Form to History. (Les formes de l’histoire) Paris: Editions B42. pp. 130-143.
Triggs, T., Dalton, B. and Simmons, T. (2017) ‘Knowledge Exchange Through the Design PhD’. In Laurene Vaughan (ed) Practice-Based Design Research. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 65-76.
Triggs, T. (2016) ‘(re) mapping Futures: Graphic Design and the Archive’. In Lzicar, R. and Fornari, D. (Eds), Mapping Graphic Design History in Switzerland. Triste: Switzerland. pp.18-44.
Triggs, T. (2016) ‘Designing Education for Business’ In Sabine Junginger and Jürgen Faust (eds) Designing: Business and Management. London: Bloomsbury Academic. pp.167-174.
Triggs, (2015) T. ‘Mapping Futures for Graphic Design Education’. In Oven, P. & Predan, B. (eds) Design Education: What do you see? What do you think about it? What do you make of it? Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana. pp. 92-111.
Conference Papers
Triggs, T. (2026) ‘Humour and the Graphic Strategies of Protest (UK 1995-2021)’, Design in an Age of Uncertainty, Design History Society Annual Conference (3-5 September, Brno, Czech Republic)
Triggs, T. (2025) ‘Women’s Design + Research Unit: Networks of Educational Activism’, Design Stories Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland (20-21 November)
Triggs, T. and Cook, S. (2025) ‘Keynote: “They refuse to keep quiet”: Thirty Years of the Women’s Design + Research Unit (WD+RU)’. Beatrice Warde Annual Lecture, St Bride Foundation, London (28 October)
Triggs, T. (2025) ‘Building an inclusive community via collaboration….and cake!’ Design Matters: Nurturing Inclusive and Innovative Design Research, University of Sapienza, Rome, Italy 13 October.
Triggs, T. (2024) ‘Quaranzines: Notes on the Visual Mundane’, Design History Society Annual Conference (4-7 September, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury, UK)
Triggs, T. (2023) ‘Will Burtin at the RCA: Visual Aspects of Science’ meets 1960s popular culture.’, Design History Society Annual Conference (7-9 September, ESAD – College of Art and Design, Porto, Portugal)
Triggs, T. (2022) ‘Fleur Cowles: Flair by Design (1949-1951)’, Design History Society Hidden Histories: Gender in Design (Session 5, virtual seminar, 5 May)
Triggs, T., Matsunaga, C. and Lewis, M. (2022) ‘Critical Ethics for Communicating Indigenous Craft Practices’, Representing Craft/Craft Representation: Design History Society Dialogues (3 February)
Triggs, T. (2020) ‘Exhibiting a Politics of Graphic Design History’, University of Ulster, Belfast Northern Ireland (13/14 February)
Group Exhibitions
Triggs, T. and Cook, S. (2024) ‘Interview with Teal Triggs’ and WD+RU ‘Pussy Galore’ typeface included in Same Bold Stories? Typeface Design by Women and Queers in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Curated by +FEM-Kollektiv with Kristina Mukhacheva & Naomi Rado. Klingspor Museum Offenbach (20 July – 24 November).
Triggs, T. and Cook, S. (2024) ‘We Profess’, poster contribution, I Profess: The Graphic Design Manifesto, 20th Anniversary Traveling Juried Exhibition, Curated by Audrey Bennett and Chris Corneal. (SCENE) Metrospace, Michigan State University (16 February-15 March and currently travelling in the USA and UK, 2024-2028).
Triggs, T. and Cook, S. (2023) ‘Pussy Galore: Fuse Poster’, The Revolution Will Be Digitized:
Typefaces from Emigre and Fuse, Curated by Steven Heller, (27 April – 5 Nov).
Co-curated Exhibitions
‘GraphicsRCA: Fifty Years and Beyond’, co-curator with Richard Doust and Jeff Wills, Royal College of Art. Dubai Design Week (12-17 November 2017).
‘GraphicsRCA: Fifty Years and Beyond’, co-curator with Richard Doust, Adrian Shaughnessy and Jeff Wills, Museu Nacional de Republica. Brasilia, Brazil (4-27 September 2015).
‘GraphicsRCA: Fifty Years and Beyond’, co-curator with Richard Doust, Adrian Shaughnessy and Jeff Wills, Royal College of Art. London (5 November-22 December 2015).
External collaborations
Teal has led knowledge exchange projects including those in partnership with Pureprint Group, Thames & Hudson, British Telecom Archives, Hyundai Motor company, and Peter Gabriel/Real World Tours.
Currently Teal is a UKRI Peer College Reviewer and on the Editorial Advisory Board, Bloomsbury Design Library, Bloomsbury Publishing. She is a member of the Industry Advisory Committee – RMIT Communication Design, School of Design, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Australia. She is a Jury member for AWDA, AIAP, the Italian Association of Visual Communication Design, Women in Design Award 2026. Previously, Teal was Chair and Jury panel member of the Design Incubation Communication Design Educators Awards, USA. She was previously a member of the AHRC Design Theme Advisory Group, Design Research for Change and the Advisory Board, ZiVA School of Vigital Arts, Zimbabwe.
Current and recent projects
Graphic Design Histories for Creative Dissent: Archiving and Ethical Challenges is a three-year Trans-Atlantic Platform: Democracy, Trust and Governance project that focuses on the timely subject of graphic design objects of street protest for global movements since the 1950s in Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Funded through UKRI, FAPESP and NRF.
Radical Archiving for Change is an ongoing collaboration between the RCA and The Advocacy Academy funded by the Royal College of Art Research & Innovation (2026) and (2024/2025). The project is linked with the University of Brighton’s Decolonising the Archive: creating an archive for impactful policymaking.
Fleur Cowles by Design: The History of Flair Magazine and its Editor reveals the life story of a forgotten American editor, artist, fashion icon, and bon viveur, Fleur Cowles (1908-2009), and the way her Flair magazine (1950-51) opened-up new ways of thinking about magazine culture. Forthcoming book from Bloomsbury Academic (2028).
Building a Library for the Future: Munduruku Craft Practices and Indigenous Knowledge funded by the British Council’s Crafting Futures Digital Collaboration Grants scheme, seeks to address an urgent need for an ethical and equitable applied communication project building on indigenous craft practices, to ensure the inhabitants of the Munduruku Bragança village have access to relevant knowledge for facing an uncertain future. Built upon a co-identified need for the development of cooperative communication practices, this multi-partner project uses a digitally inclusive method to foster new ways of shared learning to 'rediscover' local craft traditions and indigenous knowledge. Project Partners: Munduruku Bragança, University of Brasilia, and Royal College of Art.
Research funding
Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Sciences and Humanities. Democracy, Governance & Trust (T-AP DGT). A three-year project funded through UKRI, FAPESP and NRF. (2024-2027).
British Council: Crafting Futures Digital Collaboration Grants scheme (2021/2022).
The Fleur Cowles Endowment Travel Fund from The Harry Ransom Center Fellowship for the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin (2013)
Co-investigator: AHRC and EPSRC research council funded schemes: Global Uncertainties (2008/2009) Lead: University of Dundee, and Designing for the 21st Century (2004) Lead: University College London, focussing on interdisciplinary and communication design research for change.
Research interests
Teal’s research covers graphic design history, theory, and criticism. She is also involved in research which specifically explores the role of communication design in public spaces and community-based learning.
Research Supervision
Read our interview with Professor Teal Triggs, where she reflects on trust, peer exchange and experimental publishing as vital supports for doctoral researchers.
Current students
PhD: Nick Bell, Carmen Hannibal, Hotessa Laurence, Larissa Nowicki, Graham Newman, Yunqi Peng, Kam Rehal, Claire van Rhyn
Completed students
PhD: Wenbo Ai, Mallaa Alamoudi, Nick Bell, David Benqué, Federico Campagna, Tai Cossich, Michaela French, Carmen Hannibal, Susannah Haslam, Nanette Hoogslag, Graham Hutchinson, Sarah Kirby-Ginns, Benjamin Koslowski, Chenyi Liao, Kate McLean, Paul Moody, Helga Schmid, Kirsty Smith, Jimmy Tidey, Karin von Ompteda, Welmot Wartena, Caroline Yan Zheng
MPhil: Natalja Vikulina
