Jonathan Barnbrook Lecture

Oyunga managed to organize for Jonathan Barnbrook to come and give us a talk.  Although I wasn't so keen on Barnbrooks actual style which was heavily typography based, I was really interested in his personal beliefs and principles.  He was an interesting designer in terms of the way in which his chose what work to take on and what to reject.  I was surprised to hear that Barnbrook had turned down work from the likes of coca cola because he believed it to be unethical.  I really respected some of the decisions he had made throughout his carer and liked how he actually cares about the consequences graphic design can have.  He would much rather take on a brief for a charity campaign with good intentions than a very commercial brief that was against his morality, despite the amount of money involved.  There are so many designers and design company that's main aim is to make money. I believe that Barnbrooks approach is one which more designers should take heed of and it is definitely one that I am trying to apply more and more as a developing designer.  I just feel that if you are a good enough designer it can allow you to pick and choose work in this way.  Much of Barnbrooks design work is heavaly influenced by political issues too.  I think that including things that you are passionate about can add a level of intelligence to your work.

Barnbrook also told us a story of how he had met David Bowie when working along side Damien Hirst and how he been able to bully Bowie into letting him design the album cover for his next album after Bowie had stolen Barnbrooks design in what Bowie described as a "homage" to Barnbrooks work - some story!  I have included the album cover below.

In the afternoon Barnbrook gave us an in depth talk about how to get work and how to get recognised in the industry.  I think the most helpful thing I took away from it was about starting straight off as a freelancer.  He said that if you wanted do go freelance then now is the best time to do it.  He said that after uni is the time in your life when you have no real responsibilities like a mortgage and children and especially if you are still living with your parents then you don't really have any expenses and therefore nothing to lose.  It is also true that because you are used to living like a student with very little money it isn't really much of a change of lifestyle, whereas if you were to set up on your own after working for years in a company then yes, you would have more experience but you would have to give up a steady wage to start up on your own initially.