Typeface design education from Cooper Union

The Past is the Present
with Paul Barnes

For over a decade Commercial Type have been designing and releasing contemporary typefaces; from modern classics like Graphik, Druk, Publico and Guardian through to more experimental faces like Orientation and Styrene. Some of them like Lyon and Portrait have been informed and inspired by the past, but not dominated by it. At the same time they have been searching through the vast archive that is St Bride Library, looking for hidden gems; designs long forgotten and no longer available. Rather than being modern interpretations where the designer leaves an obvious mark, they are careful reconstructions, made not for yesterday, but for today’s users. They take the old forms, and expand them in new directions, whilst retaining the charm and beauty of the originals.

Commercial Type partner, Paul Barnes will explain the project and will be joined for a Q & A session by partner Christian Schwartz, and designers Greg Gazdowicz and Tim Ripper.

Registration is now closed

When:
Mon, July 8, 2019, 2024

Where: Rose Auditorium
41 Cooper Square, Manhattan


The Herb Lubalin Lectures are recorded and made available here and on Vimeo with the generous support of Hoefler&Co.


About Paul Barnes

Paul barnes
Paul Barnes is a British graphic designer, specializing in the fields of typography & type design. With Christian Schwartz he is a partner in Commercial Type, an internationally renowned typefoundry with offices in London & New York. Graduating from the Typography course at the University of Reading in 1992, he worked in the early 1990s at the studio of Roger Black and later he became the art director of Spin magazine. Since 1995 he has worked independently and in colloboration on a wide range of design projects. With Peter Saville, he has designed logos for clients such as Kate Moss and Givenchy, and created the “Original Modern” concept for the City of Manchester. In 2010 they created the ‘Modern England’ flags for the England football team with sportswear manufacturer Umbro. He has been a design and typographic consultant to many publishers including The Guardian and The Observer Newspapers, GQ, Wallpaper*, Harper’s Bazaar and frieze . As typographic consultant to The Guardian he was involved in the iconic redesign in 2006, and with Christian Schwartz created the new series of typefaces. For this as part of The Guardian redesign team they received the prestigious Black pencil from the D&AD, as well as being nominated for the Design Museum’s Designer of the Year. He has designed several retail typefaces, such as the acclaimed Dala Floda and Marian and also corporate typefaces for the National Trust in England and typefaces for magazines as diverse as Condé Nast Portfolio (with Christian Schwartz), O , the Oprah magazine and Vanity Fair. In newspapers he has designed new typefaces for The Daily Telegraph in London and Finland’s leading quality newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. He has also created the letters used by Puma football teams in the 2010 World Cup. In 2009 Schwartz and Barnes set up Commercial Type, an independent type foundry retailing both their own designs, designs by their staff, and other designers. 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.