Jonathan Barnbrook (born 1966), is a British

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for publishe ...

, film maker and typographer. He trained at Saint Martin's School of Art and at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...

, both in London.

Work

Barnbrook designed the

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper (tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ...

work of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's 2002 album ''

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'', where he used his 'Priori' typeface for the first type. He went on to design the sleeves for ''

Reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

'' (2003), '' The Next Day'' (2013) and '' Blackstar'' (2016), each with their own specially-designed typography. He cites record cover artwork as an early design influence, and possibly the interest that drew him to graphic design, with other covers including ones for John Foxx, Tuxedomoon and

Cult with No Name Cult With No Name (often abbreviated to CWNN) is a German/ English musical duo from London, comprising Erik Stein and Jon Boux. Influenced largely by electronic music, post-punk, and modern classical music, they refer to themselves "electronic ba ...

. Barnbrook is also a type designer and has released typefaces including

Bastard Bastard may refer to: Parentage * Illegitimate child, a child born to unmarried parents ** Bastard (law of England and Wales), illegitimacy in English law People People with the name * Bastard (surname), including a list of people with that na ...

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical directo ...

, False Idol, Infidel, Moron, Newspeak, Olympukes, Sarcastic, Shock & Awe. Many have emotive and controversial titles reflecting the style and themes of Barnbrook's work. His typeface Mason, originally released as Manson, is available from Emigre. From 1997–2003 Barnbrook collaborated with

Young British Artist The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...

Damien Hirst, mainly on the design, layout and typography of his book ''I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now'', and on artwork associated with his restaurant

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

. Barnbrook lives and works in London. A recurring theme of Barnbrook's graphic design is the series of personal responses to political events, which often follow or develop detournement methods. He describes as a major influence to his work "an inner anger which is a response to all the unfairness that is in this world". He has stated his ambition to use "design as a weapon for social change". He was a signatory to the First Things First 2000 manifesto, in which graphic designers pledged to "put their skills to worthwhile use'"and address the "unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises" that they saw in the world. In 2001 Barnbrook made a work entitled ''Designers, stay away from corporations that want you to lie for them'', a quote from

Tibor Kalman Tibor George Kalman (July 6, 1949 – May 2, 1999) was an American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well known for his work as editor-in-chief of ''Colors'' magazine. Early life Kalman was born on July 6, 1949, in Budapest, to parents Ma ...

; it took the form of a large-format advertising billboard and was first displayed in Las Vegas during a convention for members of

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

, the American 'Professional Association for Design'. Barnbrook has also contributed work to, and been art director of two editions of,

Adbusters The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself as "a global network of artists, activist ...

, a graphically-designed magazine devoted to political and social causes, and run by an organisation aiming to "advance the new social activist movement of the information age".

Work in Japan

Barnbrook is well-known in Japan. His studio completed the logo and corporate identity for Roppongi Hills, the largest post war development in Tokyo, and also worked on the corporate identity of Mori Arts Center and Mori Art Museum. He has also worked for Shiseido.

Contemporary culture

An exhibition of Barnbrook's work, entitled ''Friendly Fire'', ran between June and October 2007 at the

Design Museum The Design Museum in Kensington, London exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generate ...

in London. The exhibition included work in response to the first and second Iraq conflicts, the First Things First Manifesto, examples of Barnbrook's typography and film work. A 320pp hardback collection of his work – 'The Barnbrook Bible' – was published in 2007.

Bibliography

*''Typography Now Two: Implosion'' by Rick Poynor (Booth-Clibborn Editions) was designed by Barnbrook and features leading graphic designers of the late 20th Century and early 21st Century including Tomato (Collective),

April Greiman April Greiman (born March 22, 1948) is an American designer widely recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool. Greiman is also credited, along with early collaborator Jayme Odgers, with helping to i ...

and Jonathan Barnbook himself. *''Barnbrook Bible'' by Jonathan Barnbrook – 2007 (Booth-Clibborn Editions/Rizzoli) sees Barnbrook revisiting his earlier projects and presenting his views on design and his personal graphic work. The book was released to coincided with the Friendly Fire exhibition at the Design Museum in London.

References

External links

Barnbrook's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnbrook, Jonathan English graphic designers English typographers and type designers 1966 births Living people Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Alumni of the Royal College of Art Album-cover and concert-poster artists Grammy Award winners