Mind Matters

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. In graphics, he is most well-known for his work on his record covers with David Bowie, most notably The Next Day and Blackstar. In 1997 he established his own font company. In 2010, his most famous typeface Mason became one of the first digital acquisitions of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He has collaborated widely with artists, most notably working with Damien Hirst for a number of years. He has been a long term collaborator with anti-advertising collective Adbusters in addition to doing much of his own political and activist work. His contribution to graphic design was recognised with 2 major retrospective exhibitions entitled Friendly Fire. One at the Ginza Graphic Gallery in Tokyo in 2004 and also at the Design Museum in London in 2007 – a monograph of his work Barnbrook Bible was simultaneously published. In 2015, he was granted the award of Honorary Fellow by Central Saint Martins in recognition of his contribution to graphic design and typography. In 2016 he won a Grammy for his packing design of David Bowie’s Blackstar. After a lifetime in music design, he recently launched his own music project Fragile Self with Anil Aykan, to create both the music and graphics in a seamless form.

I'm a multi-disciplined independent graphic designer. I work collaboratively with clients of all sizes from startup businesses to international clients on a variety of projects such as brand creation, website design, digital and print design as well as information graphics. Quite simply, I love what I do, every one of my projects is treated with a collaborative approach – using thought, insight, and focus on your audience to create designs that make an impact. I’m also very proud to be an RSA Fellow.