25 Comments

I've not always been the biggest Barnbrook fan (some stuff I like), but this I absolutely LOVE. I wish I lived in Sydney to see this in the flesh. Best thing I've seen this year, I reckon.
Ed
2010-05-25 17:46:33

great work, full of sensivity and precious type
laura meseguer
2010-05-25 23:49:58

Yes, it's always nice to see great work from a fellow Lutonian!
Ben
2010-05-25 23:54:46

Loving the work, and being a Sydney resident myself I can tell you it does have real impact on the streets, unfortunately you very rarely get to see everything together as shown on this article. Which is a shame really.

But one thing really puzzles me...

Here in Sydney I'm constantly hearing grumbles about how Melbourne is more design focused than Sydney, and how Sydney agencies should be given the opportunity to showcase more of their talent etc etc. But then someone in their infinite wisdom decides to pick an agency in London to do the design for an arts based event on the other side of the world.

There are some incredible agencies here in Sydney, so why this didn't get done by an agency a bit closer to home I'd be really interested find out?
LB
2010-05-26 04:31:29

Beautiful.
Alex Szabo-Haslam
2010-05-26 08:05:54

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely

I'm SO knocked ouT bY THIS.

It's one •••THE MosT***** comprehensive //////////// CELEBRATIONS of {Jonathan Barnbrook} I've ever seen!

Vince Frost* must be SEETHING!!!!!!

There will be many who think he [or some other australian designer] should have got the job. Oh, that's right he isn't australian. Never mind. Jolly nnnnnnnnnice though.
Ned Kelly
2010-05-26 11:51:00

It looks great and I really like the flexibility and modular system.
On the nationalism thing, it doesn't matter where a designers studio or home country is.

As someone who has never been to the city, the design response screams Sydney. I think this might have something to do with what Frost Design has been doing down under for some time, like Pentagram NY, Glaser and Vignelli have done in New York, Eric Gill, Beck and Brody in London or Wim Cruel in the Netherlands. It says an awful lot for the power of visual communication in creating a sense of place.
Sam
2010-05-26 21:39:22

Talk about going the extra mile. Really comes alive with the extra layer of white.
Joe
2010-05-26 23:16:47

Yeah, great. Love the work, but it's an utter travesty to not utilise the talents of a Sydney designer.
DoubleOhTwo
2010-05-27 03:36:46

Beautiful type, look & feel. As a Sydney-born designer I'm confused as to why a London design shop got this gig? Frost, Moon or any number of great design houses in Sydney could have done this. Shame the budget went into a UK company. Do love the work though. No wonder Sydney designers move to London...
JC
2010-05-27 09:54:09

Very inspiring. It must have taken absolutely AGES to do this.
Jennifer Farley
2010-05-27 10:19:25

As I understand it, David Elliott, the artistic director of the Biennale (who previously worked at Mori Art Museum which Barnbrook also designed) was integral to the projects development. It would be good if Barnbrook posted their initial ideas and detailed how Elliott impacted on the design process.
I also think I am right in saying that Dan Street, one the designers at Barnbrook, did a lot of the actual designing.
Lucia Davies
2010-05-27 12:02:18

Funny, I was driving past the State Library in Sydney and was faced with the choice of work by two of Britain's most famed designers. Frost (for the library) or Barnbrook (as seen above). The Biennale work is amazing and stands above and far beyond anything that has been seen in Sydney for such a long time.

Indeed there is a wealth of creative talent in Sydney, there are also few cultural brief's kicking around and the majority in recent times have gone to a handful of agencies - Frost, Saatchi and some smaller studios.

As an Aussie, as a designer and as a human being - Barnbook's work is inspiring, not just creatively (and that goes without saying) but because the residents, organisations and designers of Sydney finally get to experience design at this level first hand. That can only make us work harder, make our clients want more, and raise the public bar of cultural expectation.

I too can think of a number of Australian designers that perhaps should have got the gig but hey - it's about time we all got a bit of a reality check, a shake up and our comfy little feathers ruffled. Just hoping we don't get hit with an uninspired wave of Barnbrook rip-off's as happened last time a leading English designer landed on our shores.
MP
2010-05-28 02:41:58

First of all
Barnbrook produced the identity, Studio Trigger here in Sydney did the majority of the rollout. Perhaps this should be acknowledged above?

Secondly
Barnbrook is included in the Biennale by the Artistic Director - thus a HUGE leg up in pushing his vision past the marketing pin heads. I too would like to know how much influence the Artistic Director had.

Thirdly
I'm not a fan of 99% of Barnbrook's work. This is awesome.

Fourth
The Biennale has an incredibly tight budget, and most large agencies like Frost, Moon etc wouldn't bother with the work.

Lastly
Sydney currently exports design services around the world, in order to have access to those markets and briefs, we need to tolerate a little bit of our work going O/S as well. Anyone who complains about this is a fool and is missing the big picture. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants!

PS.
They used the same color as my Biennale of Sydney! Yay me.
Clinton Duncan
2010-05-28 08:56:01

Once again JB manages to create what will probably be the next big trend by going retro... more than a nod towards russian constructivism graphic design, very redolent of the work of Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy et al.

Incredibly powerful, wonderfully flexible design, thought provoking typography... it deserves to be a big hit!
Fat Typo
2010-05-28 15:07:19

JB managed to create a unique style which is admirable, you like it / you hate it...
I know I do not necessary like it, but I really think this SB identity is executed very well. It works, it's somewhat provocative, dark and playful like the art on display (check out Cockatoo Island for example).

Yesterday I received an email from a UK friend who was wondering if Sydney based studios where involved in the identity which I though was 'funny'. Let me explain; Unlike Europe and the UK, Australia does not deal well with design criticism, maybe it is the lack of proper channels and/or interest which I find very frustrating. Criticism is simply essential for 'creative' acceleration which we all should strive for. Back to the email... Here in Sydney it is quiet very quiet, the discussion about who and more important where the ID was conceived does not exist. Somehow it triggers question marks abroad but not on home soil?
Do I care? I guess I do. Going abroad with a comprehensive and beautiful project like this does not send out a very good signal (SYDNEY Biennale). Sydney already struggles with it's non-creative (corporate) stigma and this will do no good. Yes plenty Sydney based creatives could have tackled this beautiful project and one of them probably should have done so in my opinion. Frost, Moon, come on now there's so many more interesting smaller outfits who would have done a much much better job then these corporate monsters.

But maybe it's good this way! Maybe Sydney creatives take notice and become a bit more vocal and assertive or even aggressive if you like...
Eddie
2010-05-29 05:45:59

Beautiful work. I can see how some would be pissed at project going to another hemisphere though. Would have loved to have seen what Australian studio Inkahoots would have done - their work is as smart and evocative as Barnbrook's - just not as hyped.
Robby Jacobs
2010-05-31 02:41:31

This is brilliant. Thanks for the article showing the work taken apart and not just the end result.

I understand the person almost entirely responsible for this project from Barnbrook Studio is Dan Streat. It's a shame that he was not credited in the article, especially considering how much of a reaction its caused on this comments page alone. People here confessing to not normally being a fan of his work but still assuming it is Jonathan Barnbrook who literally comes up with all the ideas and designs it all. That'll be why then.

Hope for Barnbrook Studio's sake Dan Streat doesn't get stolen away if this work is anything to go by.

And wish I could get my hands on a copy of the festival catalogue. Beautiful.
Lisa
2010-06-09 09:55:40

superb!!!!!! just perfect!
andrei
2010-06-09 13:26:05

A couple of things:

I live in Sydney, and I love the graphics for this. I don’t actually care whether a Sydney based designer did it or not. However if gives them a kick up the ass to pull themselves together a bit then that’s a good thing. Maybe we should see it as the international project it is, like a building which would go out to an international architect. I do think its really great piece of work and really livens up Sydney for the period of the biennale

Lisa - are you a student? do you even know what you are talking about? The work is credited as 'Barnbrook', which is the company that i believe Dan works at - not 'Jonathon Barnbrook'. I think this is pretty normal practice. Also i have the catalogue and having just checked he is fully credited as the designer, so before you start with your assumptions and accusations of Mr. Barnbrook, do a bit of basic research and thinking. When somebody works somewhere, particularly at a place like that, which has a strong ideological and visual style, they are heavily influenced by it. I also presume Jonathon would have overseen this project - the work is also using all of his fonts which i presume Dan did not design.

Finally, can help comparing this to the London Olympic logo - maybe London picked the wrong designers to do it as this is a thousand times better, happy that Sydney made the right choice.
david
2010-06-11 01:01:28

A few more things:

david - ‘before you start with your assumptions and accusations of’ Lisa please read her comment carefully. She does not accuse Jonathan of anything. Her critique is leveled at the wide held assumption that Barnbrook Design is owned, directed, and operated by Jonathan alone.
Interestingly Research Studios did a comparably similar size project, but the article (and credit has to be given to Mr Brody for this) actively included the names of the people who worked upon it: “Much of typographic work on the project was undertaken by 23 year-old Luke Prowse who has been at Research Studios for two years”. Times Modern http://tiny.cc/3zszp

Moreover, simply because Barnbrook work with a widely used system of credit, does not mean that it is free from criticism. Lisa’s comment indicates that there is a need to rethink how credits are attributed, particularly in the digitally networked era.
Lucia Davies
2010-06-11 17:40:06

David - no, not a student. I had done my research. And it was not my intention to accuse Jonathan Barnbrook of anything.

Lucia Davies - thank you for understanding the point I was trying to make, and explaining it far better than me.

I like Barnbrook Studio's work but had found this project particularly refreshing and wanted to share one reason why that seemed to be.
Lisa
2010-06-13 21:08:56

Actually i think David's point is very valid, Lisa's argument doesn’t really hold much water about crediting work. Most people don’t work on a project in isolation, and especially in this case where even if a particular employee did work on it, he is clearly using elements and influenced by the main person at the company. So to say the designer worked on his own in this case would not be accurate. Only recently it seems that because of the 'star system', everybody is throwing their toys out of the pram if they don’t get mentioned.

As for it seeming like Barnbrook is being 'directed, and operated by Jonathan alone'. The guy has followed a consistent ideological path for 20 years so although he may have employees it does seem to me that perception is correct, it is directed and operated by him.
stephen
2010-06-14 23:04:02

Jonathan Barnbrook said "When there are projects that people have helped on I hope they’ve been credited, or when they have made a contribution over and above what’s expected in the studio they do get credit for that" (Creative Review http://alturl.com/u87m). And yet Jonathan remains critical of others when they employ their systems of credit on him. (Eye Magazine http://alturl.com/dryd)
abbott
2010-06-15 12:48:54

Very nice post. Thanks for posting this.
Louise928
2010-08-02 11:30:00

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