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Barbican Arts Centre identity

Contributed by Stephen Coles on Feb 12th, 2013. Artwork published in .
Barbican Arts Centre identity 1
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.

Following the direction set by the refurbished building (and perhaps inspired by 8vo’s work of a few years previous), the Barbican identity uses only Futura. But not just any Futura. The brand guidelines (thoughtfully designed in 2004–07 by North) specify Futura SH from Scangraphic, a cut designed specifically for large sizes. It is quite tightly spaced and omits most of the ink traps and other compensations made in the text-optimized cuts. Also note that the round shapes remain circular in all weights, unlike some versions of Futura.

The brand guideines book really is a fine piece of work. Anyone building a new typographic identity — or just a brand book — can glean much from it. Download a PDF of the typographic section.

P.S. The original Barbican identity from the 1970s was created by Lloyd Northover. That logo featured the same cropped circle, but the type was Walbaum.

Barbican Arts Centre identity 2
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 3
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 4
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 5
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 6
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 7
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 8
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 9
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 10
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 11
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 12
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 13
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 14
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 15
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 16
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.
Barbican Arts Centre identity 17
Source: www.septemberindustry.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.

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1 Comment on “Barbican Arts Centre identity”

  1. Aaron Thesing says:
    Feb 16th, 2013 4:06 pm

    I really enjoy this identity and the application, but this post was especially nice for naming precisely which version of Futura was used. (The Quora link was great too.)

    I know every post won’t have a link to concise brand guidelines, but it would be neat to know which version of a font is used (when possible). It is immensely helpful for people shopping for digitizations of old standbys, because you don’t always want an alternative.

    Cheers!

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