Paul Barnes: Touching the Past

There was no mention of The Guardian, Kate Moss, the exquisiteness that is the ‘Marian’ font, nor football. Except during the upfront disclaimer to say that there would be no mention of these things. In fact, it was mostly all about churchyards and gravestones, family trees in the town of Cornwall, generations of lettering, and a hint of american celebrity.

Paul Barnes, Foto © Alex Blumhoff

Let’s face it. Paul Barnes could have spoken about anything remotely to do with graphic design and/or type and we still would have been all ears.

A thoughtful and personal response to the theme of ‘touch’, the joy and fondness in which he spoke about legacy; that of his family and that of the pioneers of English lettering during the 18th and 19th centuries and how it has inspired and informed his work was marvellous.

He spoke of his quest to unravel more about his family heritage and the fascination he developed for cemeteries. How he began looking for graves and how they may have possibly related to him. What he uncovered was magic and beauty in the writing and decorating of death, the vernacular of the lettering, and the undefined arrangement and quality of it.

Fat faces, expressive swashes, diabolical spacing, sans serif serifs and eroding type are a few of the many gravestone charms that have in some way, shape or form influenced the creation of fonts such as Dala Floda, Dala Moa and Chiswick. Publications including Creative Review, Edelweiss and Freize have all benefited, as has Oprah Winfrey and England’s National Trust.

Paul-Barnes-web

Paul Barnes

Paul Barnes is a graphic designer specializing in the fields of lettering, typography, type design and publication design. He is a partner with Christian Schwartz in the internationally acclaimed typefoundry, Commercial Type. In the early 1990s he worked for Roger Black in New York where he was involved in redesigns of many magazines. He later returned to America to be art director of the music magazine Spin. Since 1995 he has lived and worked in London. He has formed a long term collaboration with Peter Saville, which has resulted in such diverse work as identities for Givenchy, ‘Original Modern’ for Manchester and the logo for Kate Moss. Barnes has also been an advisor and consultant on numerous publications, notably Wallpaper*, Harper’s Bazaar and frieze. His interest in the modern and vernacular is encompassed in his type design ranging from the contemporary such as for Björk, through to the extensive British modern, Brunel as seen in Condé Nast Portfolio. Whilst consultant to The Guardian he designed Guardian Egyptian with Christian Schwartz. He has designed typefaces for the National Trust in England, the numbers for Puma at the 2010 World Cup and most recently the numbers for the England football team for Umbro. For Commercial Type he has co designed Publico with Schwartz, and independently Austin, Dala Floda and Marian. Following the redesign of The Guardian, as part of the team headed by Mark Porter, Barnes was awarded the Black Pencil from the D&AD. They were also nominated for the Design Museum ‘Designer of the Year’. In September 2006, with Schwartz he was named one of the 40 most influential designers under 40 in Wallpaper*. A year later The Guardian named him as one of the 50 best designers in Britain.

What really comes through is his genuine passion for tinkering with type. A superb typographer and designer with an outstanding portfolio under his belt, he has produced for many of Britain’s most high profile and significant organisations and institutions.

There is however one in particular he has yet to work for – Her Majesty, if you happen to be reading this, please take note. Paul Barnes is graphically and typographically at your service, whenever you are ready.

Maggie Tang