Paul Harpin is a creative director, brand builder, design consultant, editorial designer and type designer. He has created many new brands, as well as being responsible for the design of over three hundred magazines and websites, and recently he has designed twelve new typefaces.
After gaining a first class BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design, he joined design consultants Walker Pinfold Associates in 1979. He moved to Banks and Miles design consultants in 1982. B&M worked for many clients including the Post Office, British Telecom, British Airports Authority, London Zoo and the Consumers’ Association.
After leaving Banks & Miles, he worked for the Architectural Press. He has won two Magazine Of The Year Awards: one for Architects' Journal; and another for BUSINESS magazine with Condé Nast (in a joint venture with the Financial Times). At the same time he designed the Chartered Society for Designer’s magazine DESIGNER.
At the age of thirty he became group art director at Centaur Media Group in charge of nineteen brands including Creative Review and Design Week, then creative director at Redwood Media Group in 1990 working for the BBC and created content for many blue chip clients including American Express and M&S.
In 1995 he was a founding partner in The Magazine Consultancy, and the creative director of Times Magazines in Singapore in 1996. He also worked as a consultant to Gaya Favorit Press in Indonesia. He returned to the UK to be creative Director for Lord Heseltine’s Haymarket Media Group for nineteen years. At Haymarket, he was responsible for the look and content of 138 brands, and he led a team of 65 designers as their worldwide creative director, for all their divisions: Consumer, Customer (Network) and Business, Through their agency Haymarket Network he designed the main programmes and the opening and closing ceremony programmes for London 2012, the Olympic games, they rebranded The British Army, and produced extensive content across all channels for many clients including SkyTV, Toyota, Jaguar, FA, Manchester United VW and the Design Council.
He now works as a design consultant and collaborates with Geoff Waring, who was design director for Vogue UK. He launched the London Type Foundry with Paul Hickson and Joe Graham. He remains a consultant designer for Haymarket. He is the 2020 vice chair for the Wynkyn de Worde Society, (De Worde was Caxton’s apprentice, the first printer on Fleet Street London). The Society’s members are eminent publishers, designers, editors and printers). Paul was their honorary designer on 2018 and 2019, and will be the chair in 2021.
Paul is married to Clare White, and they have three sons. They all work in the creative industries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, was the founding chair for the Editorial Design Organisation. He enjoys illustration and printmaking. He is a Charlton Athletic football fan. Paul is very proud to have raised over £75,000 for two cancer charities — with his buyfontssavelives campaign, that he launched after the death of his niece Laura.
