northpublik: design above the 44th parallel

Here’s where I’m supposed to tell you about me, but I hate this part. I’ve always hated this part. I’m the monosyllabic one at parties when people ask “what do you do?”. I never like talking about myself, but I guess it has it’s place, and this is as good a one as any.

So the lowdown is like this: I studied at York University and OCA [back when it only had 3 letters] for Graphic Design, and before I graduated, I got a my first fulltime job as a junior designer. Where better to learn your craft than at a studio, so I left in my last year and entered the world of 9-5. Which soon turned into 9-6, 9-8, 9-11, etc.

I did time at Brunico Communications as Art Director of a bunch of mags, including Playback and Strategy. That’s where I found my love for editorial design. From there, I bounced around some boutiques after that, which included time at Toronto’s Reactor Art+Design. From there, I headed out on my own doing freelance 2D design, as well as designing some furniture & home accessories. Somewhere in there, I also went from Sonya Julia-Franco to Sonya JF Barnett.

Now I’m back at another boutique in downtown Toronto, where I can ride my bike to work, get some tattoo work done around the corner, and draw pretty pictures.

Northpublik is a place where I can keep track of cool things I see that happen in the design industry [give or take a few feet], and share it. I feel that although there is some great Canadian design, there aren’t enough places that let us know where it came from. Here is where I hope to post cool art from talented Canadian designers of all things print, motion, product, architecture, illustration, whatever. If it looks cool, I’ll post it.

If you’ve got any suggestions for things you might want to see on northpublik, please send a comment my way and I’ll be sure to check it out.

sjfbarnett.