Do you design your own typefaces? Have you created a stunning type-centric design? Have you produced a gorgeous handlettered project? We want to see your work. Check out Print’s Typography & Lettering Awards for a chance to be featured in Print magazine.
Designer of the Week Ian Barnard has a passion for typography and lettering, and it shows in all the creative things he does—creating hand-drawn logos, T-shirt designs, posters and more, but also running a store on
Creative Market that sells resources for designers and hand-letterers. As if that doesn’t make him cool enough, he also organizers designer meet-ups in local coffee shops, stays involved with his community (he recently set up the Crowborough Street Pastors), and lives where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many of his Sherlock Holmes stories.
Read on to get to know this guy a bit better, and for some serious hand-lettering inspiration!
Name: Ian Barnard
Location: Crowborough, South East, UK
Design school attended: University for the Creative Arts, Kent UK
How would you describe your work?I do custom lettering and calligraphy. Companies get in contact when they want [a] hand-crafted look instead of using typefaces. This would be things like logos, posters, magazine covers or packaging.
Where do you find inspiration? I get a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest as the best work seems to filter to the top of the searches. I have loads of type-related books, which I also flick through to get inspiration.
Who are some of your favorite designers or artists?Jon Contino, Seb Lester, Luke Lucas, Alison Carmichael
Do you have a favorite among all the projects you’ve worked on?I recently did some custom lettering for one of my favorite charities (Tearfund). They’re doing a campaign called Big Bake to raise funds for children who are taken and sold into slavery. Really happy with how the final type work came out.
Is there a project that stands out to you as having been the biggest challenge of your career so far?At the beginning of the year I got to do a series of three posters for a large swimwear brand. They wanted custom lettering around each of their models. I had to buy a much larger printer and scanner for this project to the large amount of lettering that was needed to go on the posters. Sorry, it’s not out till next year so can’t share an image!
What do you hope to accomplish in the future?I’m currently putting together a calligraphy course for people wanting to learn this craft. Once I’ve rolled out that, I may make some more on other styles of calligraphy or hand-lettering. Whenever I post little tips on Instagram, I always get a great response, as hand-lettering is so popular at the moment.
What’s your best advice for designers today?Keep trying new styles and challenging yourself to learn new skills. Keep producing work for yourself and put it out there. The more you have up on the internet, the more likely companies are going to come across it and possibly hire you.
Hand-Lettering Inspiration from Ian Barnard
“Enjoy the Ride is a brush script typeface made using one of my favorite tools, the Tombow Calligraphy Brush Pen,” Barnard says. “I carefully selected one that had dried slightly so that it gave some great textures to the font.”
Hand Lettering Power Course – Independent Study Workshop
By Denise Bosler
Introduce hand-lettering into your repertoire of design skills with this course. Denise Bosler, author of Mastering Type, will provide you with the skills you need to add a personal touch to your typographic communication from research and sketching to developing dynamic layouts with custom lettering. You will be given the opportunity to communicate your love of hand-lettering through the process of self-discovery and experimentation as you explore your typographic voice and creative style