Noma Bar: A positive approach to negative space
by Katie Shoard
Negative Space by Noma Bar
Can a picture really paint a thousand words? Well, yeah, if Noma Bar designed it. A modern-day master of the ‘less is more’ approach to design, Noma’s ingenious use of negative space gives his work a startling subtlety that creeps up and smacks you between the eyes.
Throw in some incisive wit in his creative handling of current political and cultural issues, and you’re looking at one of the most prestigious designers of the minute. He’s hot stuff. And once you’ve seen his work, you’ll know why.
Creating a story with one picture
As a writer, you’re always striving to create a picture without having to spell it out. You want to be suggestive rather than spoon-feed, spark the imagination rather than talk to people like they’re idiots. Advertising, especially in retail, is often accused of patronising the consumer. You’ve seen the ads on telly, shamelessly repeating their promo messages, bludgeoning us over the heads till we’re all reciting their mantras like cyborgs: “4 years interest free credit”, “Sale ends this Bank Holiday”, “Hurry, hurry, hurry!” You get the picture.
"Hoodies" - illustration for The Guardian
Visual communication is often equally as guilty. Perhaps that what makes Noma Bar so very refreshing. Using a subtlety of style reminiscent of Lex Drewinski, his clean lines and inspired graphics leave the audience to make the link between the form and the message. One site describes the latest work from his Negative Space book as ‘pictograms that tell stories without a single word’. And they do. The images entice you to engage intellectually with the visual. Although they are usually accompanied by in-depth article on a specific subject, the impact of his graphics is so immediate that you barely need to read the header.
Born in Israel in 1973, Noma studied graphic design at the Jerusalem Academy of Art & Design. He’s lived in London since 2001. In a recent interview with NewYorker magazine he said that not being able to communicate in his first language, Hebrew, had a definite influence on his work. “Because I couldn’t use my native language, I had to look for other means of communication. I’ve always found pictograms to be fascinating – they can tell stories just as well as words, and they can have multiple interpretations… I learned to develop my own sign language.”
Radioactive Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein launches a career
In fact, his career as a graphic designer started in Israel during the first Gulf War, “I was sitting in a shelter with my family, reading the newspaper,” recalls Noma, “and I came upon the black “radioactivity” symbol on a yellow background. As I was looking at it, I discovered two eyebrows and a mustache, and saw in it the image of Saddam Hussein… That Saddam image was one of the images I showed people when I moved to London… It’s how I got my first commission for Time Out, London.”
Noma Bar
Noma’s talent hasn’t gone unnoticed. Since his first illustration for Time Out in 2003, he’s been commissioned by some of the most prestigious publications across the world, including The New York Times, The Economist, Esquire, and The Guardian to name but a few. He’s tackled subjects as weighty as corporate greed, global warming and gun crime, produced beautiful caricatures of some of the world’s most famous celebrities – his graphics have even adorned Selfridges’ shopfront on Oxford Street. With over 60 magazine front covers and two books under his belt, it’s clear that Noma’s clever use of negative space will continue to have a positive effect on his audience for a long time to come.
Check Noma Bar’s work out on his facebook profile or on the creative agency, DutchUncles’ website.
Tags: Advertising, Branding Agency Manchester, Creative Agency, Creativity, Design, Design Agency Manchester, Digital Agency, Direct Marketing Agency, Graphic Design, Jerusalem Academy of Art & Design, Katie Shoard, Lex Drewinski, Marketing Agency, Noma Bar, Online Agency, PPC Agency, SEO Company, Time Out
