Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson is a Senior Lecturer on BA (Hons) Design for Publishing. Andrew has been lecturing on Design for Publishing since 2006. He is a subject specialist and also supports teaching on BA Graphic Design and BA Graphic Communication in Year 1. Andrew studied Graphic Design at the University of Brighton between 1987–90 and completed an MA at the Royal College of Art in 1992. Andrew has been a practising designer for 30 years. He was the art director of the architecture and design magazine, Blueprint, between 1995-2000, founding partner of Norwich-based creative agency East Publishing between 2004-2015, and art director of V&A Magazine between 2004-2018.

My professional practice is centred around client-based work for the arts and culture sector. I have acted as a consultant art director for publications including Art Review, Tate Guide and most recently Sotheby’s magazine (2021) in New York. In collaboration with a specialist arts content publisher in London I was the art director of V&A Magazine for 14 years. Between 2001-2004 I was senior designer at a contract publishing company and was the design lead for the world-wide customer magazine for Saab Cars AB in Sweden. I have worked with local clients including Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Norwich Castle Museum, the National Trust and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts for whom I continue to design catalogues, books and exhibition graphics for their temporary exhibition programme.

As a lecturer, my interests lie in exploring content and ideas to create compelling, engaging, and emotive narratives to entertain, inform and facilitate change. Everyone engages in some form of publishing today through a variety of digital platforms. To publish is to make visible – to illuminate and give attention. It is a way to close the distance between people, connect with each other and share our stories. Understanding the discipline and fundamentals of editorial design is integral to the subject but I am also interested in enabling and empowering our students to explore the value of content and find their own voice to develop visual languages that speak to new and diverse audiences using traditional print media, digital media, and spatial design.

Practice

Recent designed publications:

• 2023, Empowering Art: Indigenous creativity and Activism from North Amercia’s Northwest Coast, Sainsbury Centre
• 2022, Visions of Ancient Egypt, Sainsbury Centre
• 2022, Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of Youth, Sainsbury Centre
• 2021, A Passion for Landscape: Rediscovering John Crome, Norwich Castle Museum
• 2021, Rhythm and Geometry: Constructivist Art in Britain since 1951, Sainsbury Centre
• 2021, Encounters with Ceramic: The Writings of Tony Birks, Sainsbury Centre
• 2021, The Nature of Dreams: England and the formation of Art Nouveau, Sainsbury Centre
• 2020, Henry Moore: Friendships and Legacies, Sainsbury Centre
• 2020, Basketry & Beyond: Constructing Cultures, Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas, University of East Anglia
• 2020, Art Deco by the Sea, Sainsbury Centre
• 2019, Elisabeth Frink: Humans and Other Animals, Sainsbury Centre
• 2018, Superstructure: The Making of the Sainsbury Centre, Sainsbury Centre
• 2017, Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacific, Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas, University of East Anglia

Published design work:

• 1996, Typography Now 2: Implosion, Rick Poynor, Booth Clibbon Editions

Awards/Industry Recognition:

• 2019, Association of Cultural Enterprises Awards, Best General Publication Superstructure: The Making of the Sainsbury Centre (Sainsbury Centre)
• 2013, East Anglian Book Awards, Winner (Book of the Year; History and Tradition) Masterpieces: Art and East Anglia (Sainsbury Centre)
• 2011, British Society of Magazine Editors Awards, Highly commended (Launch of the Year), Norwich Magazine (East Publishing)
• 2010, East Anglian Book Awards, Winner (History and Tradition) The Medieval Churches of the City of Norwich (East Publishing / Norwich HEART)
• 2009, Creative East Awards, Best Factual Publication, Norwich 12: A journey through the English city (Norwich HEART)
• 2009, East Anglian Book Awards, Winner (Guidebooks and Travel), Norwich 12: A journey through the English city (Norwich HEART)
• 2007, Press Gazette Magazine Design and Journalism Awards, shortlisted, V&A Magazine
• 2007, Creative East Awards, Best Creative Campaign, Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2006
• 2006, PPA Awards, Best Monthly Business and Professional Magazine, SHP (Safety and Health Practitioner), (United Business Media)
• 1998, Art Directors Club of New York, Merit award, Blueprint (September 1997)