2006-2007 | VARIOUS LOGOS | CLIENTS: SPECIAL OLYMPICS, DOC DITTO (MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION), AUSTIN BATCAVE (CHILDREN’S WRITING LAB)

Emerging Talent No. 12: Ben Barry
Born in Ada, Okla., but raised in Texas near Austin, Ben Barry is now in Silicon Valley working as a designer for Facebook, where his focus is on developing Facebook’s online presence, voice and brand. “It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to focus on developing such a young brand that millions of people all over the world already interact with on a daily basis,” says Barry. “I am immensely interested in the massive potential that we have to influence social change by encouraging an atmosphere of openness and sharing.” Before taking on this challenge, Barry, a graduate of the University of North Texas, worked for the design firm and screen-printing shop The Decoder Ring in Austin. There he honed his skills with a range of clients, doing packaging, merchandising and a lot of screen-printed posters. He’s also an alumni of John Bielenberg’s experimental design education program, Project M, where he explored the role graphic designers can play in encouraging social change.

Barry’s work often displays a pared-down sensibility. “Visually, more often than not, my work is graphically simple with a limited palette of bright colors,” he says. “It seems to work for me with my limited drawing ability, and I really admire the economy of one and two-color design work.” UnderConsideration’s Armin Vit appreciates Barry’s approach. “Everything is perfectly crafted,” Vit says. “[Barry’s design work] is varied, and it has a very engaging vibrancy that I would deem as decidedly American—something I mean as a compliment, and reflected in his great use of typography and imagery.”

In addition to his work with Facebook, Barry notes, “I’m also focusing more on personal projects again, and developing a series of screen-printed posters designed by my friends and me. I’m still running an online design community called TheRoot42, and I want to focus on developing it even more over the next couple of years.” Begun in 2001 by Barry and collaborator Ian Shannon, TheRoot42 was originally a public art and design forum. It is now a tight-knit private group—with members accepted by application—that serves the needs of a unique creative community of web and graphic designers, photographers, typographers, musicians, painters, animators, screen printers, bookbinders, illustrators, cartoonists and programmers.

As Vit notes, “Ben doesn’t seem to sit back and wait for things to happen. He goes out and gets it. Whether starting TheRoot42, signing up for Project M or doing self-initiated posters, he has that design curiosity that makes for endless success.”
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