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About

These guidelines have been created by the Barbican Studio, which is the in-house design team at the Barbican Centre, London. The Studio creates most of the visual material for the Centre. It is based in the Marketing Department and consists of four permanent designers.

The current structure of the design team was created in 2011 and coincides with a major rebranding project undertaken by North. The philosophy of the team is based on the visual guidelines North created at the time. These set out a flexible system influenced by the Centre’s vision of ‘arts without boundaries’ and includes strong visual elements that allow freedom and diversity.

For further information contact design@barbican.org.uk

Browse

Chapter
0.0 Our Voice 1.0 Invite 2.0 Show 3.0 Passion 4.0 Examples 5.0 Recap 6.0 Accessibility
Page
0.0.1 Intro 0.0.2 Values 0.0.3 Principles
1.0.1 Intro 1.0.2 Everyday 1.0.3 Personal 1.0.4 Shorten 1.0.5 Artspeak 1.0.6 Test
2.0.1 Imagine 2.0.2 Attention 2.0.3 Start 2.0.4 Concise 2.0.5 Qualifiers
3.0.1 Intro 3.0.2 Tell 3.0.3 Ask 3.0.4 Rhythm 3.0.5 Variety
4.0.1 Intro 4.0.2 Homepage 4.0.3 Season 4.0.4 Advert 4.0.5 Notice 4.0.6 Invite 4.0.7 Poster 4.0.8 Hire 4.0.9 Response 4.1.0 Report 4.1.1 Exhibition
5.0.1 Audiences 5.0.2 Cheatsheet
6.0.1 Language 6.0.2 Jargon 6.0.3 Headings 6.0.4 Links 6.0.5 Opinions 6.0.6 Images
Audiences

Writing for different audiences

Art-lovers. Art-novices. Colleagues. Kids. Library-users. Wi-Fi-users. Artists. Sponsors. People who have never heard of the Barbican. People who know everything about it.

We talk to lots of different people, in lots of different ways and places.





1. Remember that lots of readers want the same things — like clear, easy-to-read information

2. Think about your reader

  • What do you know about them?
  • What do they know about us?
  • What might they be feeling?
  • Where might they be reading?
  • How much time do they have?

3. Read your first draft back from their point of view

Recap
5.0.1