‘Design is about how you organise the world,’ he explains. ‘It comes out of problem solving and is concerned with objectives, outcomes, budgets. You couldn’t say that about music. Design is a profession; music is more a serendipitous calling.’

Seemingly discrete, then, his twin passions are actually fundamentally intertwined, with each enabling and complementing the other. Through travel, Barnum began building what he terms an ‘aesthetic library’, an inner assemblage of observation and experience which underpins the creative subconscious. Barnum describes it as a semi-tangible being, an ‘alter ego’, which has been both muse and guide throughout his career.

Barnum was born in the United States but grew up and studied in Australia, and has lived and worked in both countries. He released what may be the first independent Australian dance album in the mid-1980s and continues to write and record music. His sound has evolved into a gentle, bluesy pop, with poetic lyrics wistfully commentating contemporary life, punctuated by instrumental flourishes and asides.

Simultaneously, Barnum maintained an international graphic design company and cultivated a role as design educator. Now Head of School at Billy Blue School of Graphic Arts, he is more akin to a creative director than as active designer, steering the educational course for emerging designers and imbuing the school with the double virtues of creativity and professionalism, not unlike Barnum himself.

Andrew’s digital story was produced in collaboration with:
Simon Pemberton, Australian Graphic Design Association
Janson Hews, Powerhouse Museum