Paul Barnes (born 1970) is a graphic designer specializing in the fields of lettering, typography, type design and publication design. Working for Roger Black in New York he was involved in redesigns of Newsweek, US and British Esquire and Foreign Affairs. He also art directed Esquire Gentleman and U&lc. He later became the 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 numerous music based projects, such as Gay Dad, New Order, Joy Division and Electronic. Independently he has created identities for luxury Italian shoe manufacturer, Gianvito Rossi and German publisher, Schirmer Graf.
Barnes has also been an advisor and consultant on numerous publications, notably The Sunday Times Magazine, The Guardian and The Observer, GQ, Wallpaper*, Harper’s Bazaar and frieze. Whilst consultant to The Guardian he designed Guardian Egyptian with Christian Schwartz.
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.
