Having previously designed the website for s[edition] co-founder Harry Blain’s Blain Southern Gallery, Barnbrook were approached by s[edition] to design their identity and oversee the design of their online presence.

s[edition] is a revolutionary new way to collect art by the world’s leading contemporary artists in digital format. Their goal is to make fine art collectable, affordable, social and enjoyable.

The s[edition] logo – originally inspired by typographic marques drawn for traditional British art handlers and auction houses – was designed to be dynamic, elegant and contemporary. Simultaneously acknowledging both the tangible nature and digital potential of fine art in this transitionary time. The website was designed in collaboration with s[edition]‘s in house team.

Read more about s[edition] on the the BBC and The Art Newspaper.

The Festival opened on Wednesday night with an Artists’ and supporters’ party in the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island. Check it out here .

Describing the exhibition as beautiful, challenging and memorable, Artistic Director Elliott said: ‘The 17th Biennale of Sydney aims to present diverse cultures on the equal playing field of contemporary art, where no culture can assume superiority over any other.

Situated in the heart of Sydney, in a country that has traditionally regarded distance as a disadvantage, this Biennale will celebrate distance by including art from all over the world.

Drawing inspiration from the work of Harry Smith, Barnbrook has created a unique identity that communicates the eclectic, multifaceted ideas that inform the concepts behind the Australia’s largest contemporary art festival.

More soon.

* The festival opens in 2 days time.

The Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park, South London has a new show starting this month. The gallery – who’s logo we designed back in 2008 – has invited German artist Christian Jankowski to realise a major solo project: The Perfect Gallery. The artist has worked with an interior designer and a team of builders on renovating the gallery. Their work has been documented in a video that takes the form of an interior-design makeover programme, presented by Gordon Whistance.

The Pump House Gallery building was built in 1861 to house a coal-fired steam engine and pump to circulate water in the lake of Battersea Park and became a permanent gallery space in 1999 after suffering years of neglect. You can read more about the history of the gallery building here.

Spring is a very special time time in Japan, coinciding with the blooming of Sakura across the country. This year Roppongi Hills commissioned Barnbrook to create an identity for the Hills Spring festival. The identity is made up of a series of logos featuring a Sakura flower and will be rolled out accross publicity for Roppongi Hills and Ark Hills later this month. We also created a series of banners which will be displayed around Roppongi Hills. We will be showcasing more of this project once it has been launched in Tokyo.

If you picked up a copy of the Observer on Sunday then you may have seen the work of Love Music Love Food featured in Observer Food Monthly. The exposure for LMLF coincided nicely with a series of concerts celebrating the Teenage Cancer Trust’s 10th birthday at the Royal Albert Hall. There will be an exhibition of the work by LMLF from 22 March to 19 April at the Royal Albert Hall whilst the concerts are taking place.

Last year we devised the identity for the charitable organisation, which works in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. The project is the brainchild of photographer Patrice de Villiers, who shoots some of Britain’s best-known musicians with their favourite dishes. You can see the photographs which were featured in the Observer here and you can find out more about the organisation here (Please note – we did not design the website).

Earlier this year Barnbrook designed some banners and a tapestry for the Hills Café/Space, in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. We thought that this was an opportune moment to showcase the identity we created for the cafe back in 2008.

The identity comprises of a logo created from a customised version of our typeface, Priori Sans, and a series of circular patterns which can be found on banners and advertising.

We also came across this lovely photo of our work on a light-box wall on flickr which beautifully shows our designs.

Below you can see the large ‘tapestry’ that we created, which is displayed within the cafe.

You can find more information on Hills Café/Space on the Roppongi Hills website, also designed by us.

Barnbrook Design is currently fashioning the idenity for the 17th Biennale of Sydney entitled, “THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age” and set to take place in 2010. We’re creating everything from business cards, t-shirts, brochures (PDF download), a website (currently only a temp site is up), the exhibition catalogue and numerous other ephemera. The whole project is shaping up quite nicely and visitors to the exhibition are in for quite a treat.

   David Elliott, Artistic Director for the biennale, said this about the exhibition concept: “There is no more suitable stage than Sydney for this exhibition. It will take place against the iconic backdrop of the harbour and Sydney Opera House at the site where British explorers first encountered the local inhabitants. At that time, colonial powers believed western civilisation was invincible and that they had the right to collect and possess universal knowledge. We now recognise such an ambition is both infantile and dangerous. 

  ”In a land that has traditionally regarded distance as a disadvantage, the art specially chosen for this exhibition will celebrate the many different beauties of distance by showing contemporary perspectives from all around the world. It will be an exceptional experience – challenging, but above all enjoyable.”

  The design uses a modular system which is easily reconfigurable to accommodate all the applications necessary for such a large scale campaign.  The studio also drew inspiration from the source of the Biennale’s subtitle “Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age,” in addition to Harry Everett Smith’s compilation of historic recordings, “Anthology of American Folk Music.”