Education
Saint Martin"s School of Artist Royal College of Artist
Saint Martin"s School of Artist Royal College of Artist
He trained at Saint Martin"s School of Art and at the Royal College of Art, both 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. Barnbrook has also contributed work to, and been art director of two editions of, Adbusters, 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". 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.
An exhibition of Barnbrook"s work entitled Friendly Fire ran between June and October 2007 at the Design Museum 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. 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 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.
In 2001 Barnbrook made a work entitled Designers, stay away from corporations that want you to lie for them, a quote from Tibor Kalman. lieutenant took the form of a large-format advertising billboard and was first displayed in Las Vegas during a convention for members of American Institute of Graphic Arts, the American "Professional Association for Design".
