Alison Barnes

• 2020 on: Lecturer in Graphic Design, Loughborough University
• 2015-2020: Course Leader, BA (Hons) Graphic Branding & Identity, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London
• 2014-2015: Director of Academic Program, BA Design Visual Communication, Western Sydney University
• 2012-2014: Lecturer Level B, BA Design Visual Communication, Western Sydney University
• 2005-2007: Programme Leader, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Nottingham Trent University
• 1998-2005: Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Nottingham Trent University

Alison completed her practice-led PhD at the University of the Arts London in 2012. Her current research interests stem from her doctoral work and cluster around a range of inter-related and complimentary themes including multiculturalism, conviviality and consumption, graphic heritage in the urban environment, mapping as a critical practice, and the use of branding and graphic design in relation to storytelling and the construction of a sense of place.

Using creative research methods within the context of cultural geography, Alison has developed an innovative interdisciplinary geo/graphic approach with which to understand and represent of everyday life and place. Her work frames design as having the potential to act as a method of inquiry and a mode of telling, and that design (and the designer) have the capacity to contribute within all phases of the research process—from data gathering and analysis to dissemination. In 2018 Alison published the research monograph Creative Representations of Place with Routledge and has recently contributed a chapter—Geo/Graphic Design—to Non-representational Theory and the Creative Arts (edited by Boyd, C & Edwardes, C) published by Palgrave MacMillan.

Alison is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and is on the editorial board for GeoHumanities and She-Ji, and reviews for cultural geographies and the International Journal of Food Design.

Alison currently teaches Year 2 and 3 on BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and Illustration.

• 2016 on: Editorial Board, Geo/Humanities Journal
• 2015–2017: Editorial Board, Journal of Communication Design
• 2019 on: Peer Reviewer, International Journal of Food Design
• 2018 on: Peer Reviewer, Cultural Geographies
• 2016 on: Peer reviewer, She Ji–The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation

Luise Vormittag, How can illustration assemble publics and constitute the political?, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London

Elena Veguillas, Why and how architectural lettering was used on London’s public houses in early 20th century (1902–1939), Central St Martins, University of the Arts London

Welmoet Wartena, Rivers of white: Cultural exchange of typographic discourse in artists’ publications, Royal College of Art, London

Miriam Sorrentino, Can experience of ambient advertising in public spaces be captured and communicated so it resonates with the work of creatives in this field?, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London