Since graduating in 1990 from Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, Jonathan Barnbrook has developed a multifaceted practice that includes activism, graphic design, typeface design, industrial design and motion graphics. Barnbrook founded his design studio, Barnbrook, in 1990 and In 1997 he established his own font company VirusFonts after the sucsess of his typefaces for Californian innovators Emigre. In 2010, his most famous typeface Mason was released and later became one of the first digital acquisitions of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Additionally, his stone-carving is on permanent display of the 20th century gallery in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Barnbrook believes design shapes the way we perceive the world and can facilitate social change. In marking this responsibility, Barnbrook has art directed for the anti-corporate collective Adbusters and participated in the First Things First 2000 Manifesto published in 1999, signed by graphic designers, students and photographers who proposed a reversal of priorities in the way graphic design was used commercially.
With a honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University for services to typography, the award of Honorary Fellow by Central Saint Martins and exhibitions all over the world Barnbrook's contribution to the world of design in both the political and innovational way has been recognised and celebrated and he could offer a unique and experienced perspective of how to sucsessfully find and establish oneself in the world of design.
PastPresentFuture was devised with a simple premise: contributing designers were asked three questions. First, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw, when and where was this? Second, what are you working on right now, and third, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?