Ken Barber

Letterer, type designer, and type director Ken Barber is a 1994 graduate of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. He was born in 1972 and worked in design studios in New York City for quite awhile. He is the type director at the digital type design studio House Industries, a very well known typography company.

Ken currently teaches Experimental Type in the Graphic Design Department of Maryland Institute’s College of Art. Along with teaching, he also still lectures internationally on the subject. He has spoken in Finland, England, the Czech Republic, Spain, and numerous locations throughout the U.S.

Barber is most well known for his work with the connection between hand-lettering and typeface design. This font, “Brush Script”, being viewed in the exhibit is a perfect example of his work. He has received a many awards through his somewhat short career; most noteworthy are the National Design Triennial which he received in 2003 and the National Design Museum Award for Excellence in Type Design which he received just two years ago. Another great accomplishment of Ken Barber’s is that he had much of his work shown in the international Type Director’s Club exhibit which opened in 2005, the same year as the Alphabet exhibit.