Jonathan Barnbrook

I gave a Powerpoint Presntation with a partner on Jonathan Barnbrook last year. Here is my portion of the presentation w/o the slides:

“If you are a committed designer there is no separation between your beliefs, your work and the manner of their presentation.” Jonathan Barnbrook is a well acclaimed graphic designer who incorporates his views on politics, consumerism, war, and other social issues into his work. Barnbrook was born in Luton England in 1966. His interests in graphic design began at an early age and in 1982 he studied graphic design at Barnfield College in Luton. He then went on to get a degree at Central St. Martins in London in 1985. Around that time Barnbrook began to focus more and more on typography. In 1988 he got a Masters Degree at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1990, Barnbrook designed his first font which he called “Bastard”. His first commercial font was released in 1991 and his second commercial font, which was changed from the name “Manson” to “Mason”, was released in 1992. That same year he also started his first experiments in new areas of motion graphics after working with director Tony Kaye. And in 1997 Barnbrook set up his own font company called Virusfonts.

Barnbrook has wanted to be a graphic design since age 13. His early work focused mostly on creating various typefaces. The typography he made focused on controversial stereotypes involving religion, politics, and culture. The font names and the font faces reflected each concept Barnbook tried to convey. His font names include Bastard, Manson, Drone, False Idol, Doublethink, and Prozac. His fonts were met with both praise and criticism. In 1997 Barnbrook created a company called Virusfonts. LINK 1984, political figures, In 2004 he made an anti-Olympics pictogram font called “olympukes” on the day of the opening ceremonies. IMAGE The images on the left show scenes involving bribing judges, making fun of mascots, and “medals won through the use of pharmaceuticals”. The image on the right is called “Drowning in Advertising” and has a reference to the Coca -Cola wave.

“What I aim to do and, everyone should be like, is use of our job to help society, whether it is as little or as small as local work. Executing designs for social or local projects by applying pressure on politicians through creation of work to protest. All of these help to facilitate the course of change towards becoming better.” In every aspect and type of work Barnbrook does, the idea and goal behind each piece is to address issues in our society and inspire thoughts from individuals viewing his work to seek positive changes in life. He openly criticizes the norms aesthetics associated with commercialism and political propaganda. He wants to reveal truths that are hidden behind painted up signs and glossy magazines. He wants to show that there is more to graphic design than just “style”. That the message behind the design is most important and the way it is conveyed she be equally significant. There is meaning in the images and text that can stand for something that changes people’s perspectives and the way they perceive the world they live in.

Impact:
Because Barnbrook shows his work in places all over the world, and his impact has become international. His work is also recognized in both commercial and non-commercial spheres. He influences other graphic designers and encourages them to step out of the box and stand up for themselves instead of just doing whatever kind of advertisement a corporation wants them to do. But his work’s greatest impact is on the mindset of people who see his designs. He shares his work openly and unapologetically and pushes people to think and see beyond what is being broadcast in front of them. He does this through his fonts and his designs, and most recently the Barnbrook Bible.

Bibliography

Johnson-Davies, David. "Jonathan Barnbrook." Identifont. Human-Computer Interface, Mar. 2006. Web. 30 Jan. 2010. .

Pinter, Vanina. "Barnbrook, a Messenger." Neshan Magazine. Icograda IDA, 2007. Web. 30 Jan. 2010. .

Burgoyne, Patrick. "What Would You Like To Ask Jonathan Barnbrook?" Creative Review Magazine. 19 Apr. 2007. Web. 30 Jan. 2010. .

http://www.virusfonts.com/fonts Visit this site to see some of his fonts.