Penguin Judges
John Makinson – Chairman and Chief Executive of the Penguin Group
John was appointed Chief Executive of the Penguin Group in 2002 after being named Chairman in 2001. He was previously CFO of Pearson plc, Vice-Chairman for Saatchi & Saatchi’s US holding company and Managing Director of the Financial Times newspaper. John is Chairman of the Institute for Public Policy Research, the UK’s leading progressive think tank, as well as a director of the National Theatre and of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organisation. He has an astute understanding of all aspects of the media and takes an active interest in the design of Penguin covers. He is always on the lookout for ways of encouraging and nurturing new talent.
Helen Fraser – Managing Director, Penguin UK
Helen is one of the most respected figures in British publishing today, heading up the entire Penguin list. She has been at Penguin for twelve years and overseen a period of revolution and growth. Her understanding of the market and her instinct for what will sell help to steer the look of Penguin's 500 new titles each year.
Jim Stoddart – Penguin Press Art Director
After graduating in Sheffield, Jim went straight into a job at Bill Smith Studio in London, designing record and CD covers for such labels as EMI, Virgin, BMG, Mute and Trojan Records. Five years later he joined Penguin, where he worked as a cover designer for eighteen months, and then he went to work with Chris Ashworth under Lewis Blackwell at Getty Images for twelve months. In 2001 he returned to Penguin as Art Director of Penguin Press, where he has overseen the redesign and rebranding of Penguin Classics, Penguin Modern Classics and Penguin Reference, as well as designing and art directing covers for Penguin's Allen Lane hardback imprint and Penguin non-fiction paperbacks. Jim's team was shortlisted for the Design Museum's Designer of the Year Award in 2005 for the Penguin Great Ideas series.
John Hamilton – Penguin General Art Director
John attended the Glasgow School of Art and Design and specialized in illustration. He then became a junior designer, designing books, and has continued on this path ever since.
John came to Penguin in 1997 as the Penguin Art Director and was the driving force behind dropping the orange spines from the majority of Penguin fiction. John was also responsible, along with Jim, for Penguin's 70th Birthday Campaign, inviting 70 designers, artists and illustrators to create one cover each, designed within seven days for a flat fee of £70.
John is responsible for directing Penguin's hardback imprints, Viking, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph and Fig Tree.
Guest Judges
Hari Kunzru
Hari Kunzru is the author of The Impressionist, Transmission and, most recently, My Revolutions. He was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, 2003. He is a contributing editor of Mute magazine and sits on the executive council of English PEN. He takes a strong interest in all aspects of contemporary culture including graphic design. You can read more about him at: www.harikunzru.com.
Jonathan Barnbrook
Jonathan Barnbrook is one of the UK’s most active graphic designers. His studio, Barnbrook Design based in Soho, has been active since 1990, working across a broad range of disciplines including graphic design, industrial design, typeface design and film. The studio divides its time between commercial work on an international basis for museums and cultural institutions and non-commercial projects.
Barnbrook Design has collaborated with many major figures in the British art scene including the Saatchi Gallery and Damien Hirst, for whom he designed his book I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now. Barnbrook Design has also designed the past two David Bowie album covers.
Non-commercial collaborations include art directing and producing work with Adbusters, the leading activist magazine. The studio also puts great effort into developing and producing work that highlights political and social injustices, offered for free and without copyright restrictions on the studio's websites (www.barnbrook.net and www.virusfonts.com).
In 2007 an exhibition of his work entitled 'Friendly Fire' was held at the Design Museum in London. A collection of his work, The Barnbrook Bible, was also published in 2007.
Frith Kerr and Amelia Noble of design studio Kerr Noble
Having met as students at the Royal College of Art in London, Frith Kerr and Amelia Noble, who originally studied at Camberwell and Central St Martins respectively, set up Kerr Noble after graduating in 1997. Their clients include: Barbican Art Gallery, Channel 4, David Chipperfield Architects, Design Museum, Heatherwick Studio, Serpentine Gallery, Selfridges, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
By combining typographic rigour with illustrations and handcrafted detailing, Kerr Noble succeed in enlivening and humanizing graphic design while enhancing — rather than detracting from — its functional role as a means of communicating information.
A full interview with Frith Kerr and Amelia Noble can be found on the Design Museum website.
