Personal statement

Alex is an educator, designer, and historian, and currently teaches Critical Design Thinking (Graphic Design lead) at Bath Spa University. Her research interests include printing networks and corporate communications in the 1980s and 1990s, with a particular focus on annual reports, socio-technological change, and the intersections between design and politics.

In 2024, she completed her PhD in Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. Her doctoral research, 'The Politics of Corporate Annual Report Design in Britain, 1979–2000', was funded by the Design Star Consortium and supervised by Professors Eric Kindel and Rick Poynor.

Her thesis investigates the relationships between the principles of Conservatism and Thatcherism and the design of corporate annual reports in Britain during a period of significant political and economic change. It examines the financial role of annual reports within the design profession, and inquires into the influence of Conservative ideology on the work of graphic designers.

Drawing on case studies of reports commissioned by major British companies, alongside industry literature, interviews with designers, illustrators, photographers, clients, and annual report specialists, her work situates graphic design within a broader political and ideological context. Parliamentary speeches, government legislation, and interdisciplinary literature further underpin her analysis, offering a multi-layered account of how design intersected with political discourse.

Ultimately, the thesis aims to better our understanding of the role of graphic communication design in a history of Conservatism and offers a way to synthesise multiple sources so that graphic design can be better understood in a political context.

Alongside her academic work, Alex has worked nationally and internationally as a freelance designer, researcher, and events coordinator, including organising the Do Lectures.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD - Typography & Graphic Communication - University of Reading
  • MA (Distinction) - History of Design - Royal College of Art/V&A Museum
  • BA (1st Class Hons) - Fine Art with History of Art - University of Aberystwyth.

Professional memberships

  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the Design History Society.

Areas of expertise

  • Histories of graphic design & printing technologies 
  • Histories of socio-technological change
  • Design as politics 
  • Graphic design freelance practice
  • Britain in the 19th century
  • 1980s & 1990s London
  • Oral histories 
  • Object analysis
  • Archival research.

 

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Open shop: technological change in London’s printing industry, 1980–1992
book_section

Heslop, A (2021) 'Open shop: technological change in London’s printing industry, 1980–1992.' In: Martins, N, Brandão, D and Moreira da Silva, F, eds. Perspectives on design and digital communication II. Springer, Cham, pp. 385-407. ISBN 9783030758660

Technological change in London’s commercial printing trades, 1980–1992
book_section

Heslop, A (2021) 'Technological change in London’s commercial printing trades, 1980–1992.' In: Martins, N and Brandão, D, eds. Advances in design and digital communication. Digicom 2020. Springer, Cham, pp. 443-455. ISBN 9783030616700

From print to media: the absorption of print training into graphic design education in London, 1980-1992
conference_item

Heslop, A (2016) From print to media: the absorption of print training into graphic design education in London, 1980-1992. In: Printers Unite!: Print and Protest from the Early Modern to the Present, 3-4 November 2016, Marx Memorial Library, London, UK.

Technological change in London’s printing industry 1980-1992
conference_item

Heslop, A (2016) Technological change in London’s printing industry 1980-1992. In: The Material Culture of Government, 2016, Royal College of Art, London, UK.

The politics of corporate annual report design in Britain, 1979-2000
thesis

Heslop, A (2024) The politics of corporate annual report design in Britain, 1979-2000. PhD thesis, University of Reading.