Colin Brignall’s career began in photography. He trained as a press photographer in London’s Fleet Street before moving on to commercial and fashion photography. In 1964, he joined Letraset as a photographic technician in the company’s type design studio. Before long a keen interest in letterforms surfaced and despite his lack of formal training, he showed promise in the design and artwork of display faces. Among his early works were Aachen Bold, Revue, Harlow, Premier Shaded and Superstar, and later when he entered the demanding arena of designing typefaces for both text and display, he created the equally successful Italia, Romic, Corinthian and Edwardian families.

In 1980, he was appointed type director responsible for the sourcing, art direction and selection of all new Letraset typeface releases. He was also responsible for many award-winning lettering and logotype designs.

Working as a typographic consultant to International Typeface Corporation, Brignall scouted new talent and worked with both new and established designers on such historically inspired designs as ITC Rennie Mackintosh, ITC Golden Cockerel and ITC Werkstatt.