The Atelier National de Recherche Typographique (ANRT) was created in 1985 by the French Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with the aim to ‘contribute to the development of type design and typography’. Originally established at Imprimerie Nationale (under the name of Atelier National de Création Typographique, 1985–1996), it was later transferred to École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (1996–1999). Since 2000 ANRT is based at École nationale supérieure d’art et de design (ENSAD) in Nancy. Directed by Peter Keller from 1990 to 2006, it has trained about one hundred researchers and designers, contributing to the dissemination of French type design and typography, and to the structuring of typographic education in schools of art and design.

ANRT reopened in October 2012 with a new course director, a new team and a new academic project. It is now an established research unit within the ENSAD Nancy, in the new campus ARTEM. It welcomes new postgraduate students every year and brings together experts in the fields of type design and typography. The course develops a singular approach to typographic research, with a strong emphasis on connecting theoretical and practical work, as well as on developing long-term collaborations with world leading research laboratories in other areas, such as linguistics, digital humanities or computer sciences.

Curriculum

Postgraduate research course

ANRT currently offers two kinds of postgraduate curriculum.

The post-master course is 4 semesters long: 3 semesters to develop a self-initiated project dedicated to type or editorial design (from October to March), followed by a 4th semester of professionalization. The course delivers a Diplôme de Spécialisation et d’Approfondissement, mention recherche typographique (120 ECTS).

Students can join a pre-established research programme: 2-3 positions for these programmes are opened each year. A strong connection between research and practice is required, and interdisciplinary projects are encouraged.

Six students are recruited for each session, who receive € 4450 research grant to support their research project. Students meet with the core teaching staff on a weekly basis, and attend a range of seminars and workshops by guest lecturers throughout the year. 

In some cases, students who wish to take their research further have the possibility to undertake a PhD in partnership with another research laboratory. Such research programmes are necessarily more ambitious and must aim at providing an original contribution to research. They are co-supervised by ANRT and the partner institutions, and are carried out on the longer term, with PhD students typically working on their project for 36–48 months.

Applicant profile

ANRT is a place of excellence where a specific expertise in typeface design and in editorial design is developed. Its purpose is to support research projects submitted each year by applicants. In addition to self-initiated projects, wider research themes have been defined, to be developed by ANRT on the longer term: they result in specific research programmes relating to these aspects, and are developed with partner institutions. These themes include: 

  • Typographic solutions for the digital humanities: designing specific alphabets, scripts or notation systems for scholarly purposes 
  • Typeface design for minority and/or ancient scripts, unencoded or about to be encoded in Unicode (The Missing Scripts)
  • History of typography, especially in France

Course structure

The post-master’s provides an outstanding environment for developing research, with the benefit of regular supervision by leading typographic designers. We teach both in French and English. 

  • Director of typographic research in attendance two days per week
  • Regular invited speakers on typography / graphic design 
  • One-day sessions dedicated to guests and lecturers, visual artists and theorists 
  • Partnerships with research laboratories and academic departments developing joint research programmes
  • 
Preferential access to documentary and other resources (study trips) offered by ENSAD Nancy
  • 
Some expenses related to research projects may be covered by ANRT 
  • Presentation and dissemination of students’ work (publications, exhibitions, etc.)

Opportunity for teaching experience: students can lead workshops to ENSAD Nancy’s students.

Teaching staff

Director

Thomas Huot-Marchand

Teachers

Jérôme Knebusch
Charles Mazé
Émilie Rigaud
Alice Savoie

Alumni

Promotions

ANRT 2021
ANRT 2020
ANRT 2019
ANRT 2018
ANRT 2017
ANRT 2016
ANRT 2015
ANRT 2014
ANRT 2013

ANRT 1985–2006

Teachers
Students

Contact

Address

Atelier National de Recherche Typographique
École nationale supérieure d’art et de design de Nancy
1 place Charles Cartier-Bresson
BP 13129
54013 Nancy Cedex
France

Follow ANRT

Twitter: ANRT_type
Facebook: ANRT

Credits

Support

L’Atelier National de Recherche Typographique est un 3e cycle de l’École nationale supérieure d’art et de design de Nancy. Il est soutenu par le Ministère de la Culture, la Métropole du Grand Nancy, la Région Grand Est, et l’Alliance ARTEM.

Credits

Writing: Thomas Huot-Marchand
Typeface: Instant Regular and Slow, Jérôme Knebusch
Design: Gwenaël Fradin and Thomas Bouville