Barrington Reeves

Reason for nomination

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today” Malcolm X, 1962. It’s this confident self-determination that’s driven Barrington Reeves’ dramatic and unprecedented impact on Scotland’s creative  community in 2020. Young, Black and gifted, Barrington is Scotland’s only Black agency owner and creative director. From Coatbridge roots he’s defied odds in becoming photographer, graphic and web designer, hiphop and RnB club impresario, founder of BLM Glasgow, co-convenor of BLM Scotland, establishing homeless music-therapy charity, Turn the Tables and Black Scottish Business Network. Work, life and belief entwined in synergistic endeavour. The success of his freelance career overtook his ability to deliver, so that in 2020 he led and incorporated his youth culture-oriented studio, Too Gallus, growing the business by 289% to a team of six. The studio creates work for global brands Bombay Sapphire, Wildcat Gin, Nike, Red Bull,  FTSE 100 sustainable packaging manufacturer Smurfit Kappa, cosmetics brands AKT and LRV, Dundee’s V&A, and Glasgow’s sartorial home, Slaters. That’s just the start. In 2021 Too Gallus launches an internship scheme for women and the BIPOC community and collaborates with SubClub for Black History Month. Arthur Ashe sums Barrington up: “From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life.”

Description of work

Over the last year Barrington Reeves has not only survived the pandemic but has rapidly grown as a designer and as a multi faceted creative.  2020 began with undertaking  2 ambitious projects, the rebrand of Slaters – Glasgow’s sartorial home and the creation of La Rue Verte – the worlds first luxury CBD skincare brand.  Throughout these projects Barrington proved himself not only as a keen graphic designer, but also lead on strategy, naming, brand identity, packaging design, copy writing, photography and art direction.  The Slaters rebrand was an instant hit, appeasing the old customers and breathing new life into the brand, but also opening it up to a younger and more diverse audience. This rebrand coupled with Barrington’s lead on digital marketing lead to an unimaginable 786% increase in sales on online channels and recemented Slaters position as a leader in the Scottish fashion industry.   Similarly with La Rue Verte, Barrington lead the creative process – guiding the client through naming, brand strategy, creating a stunning identity, designing the packaging, printed collateral, shopify web design, art directing all photography, 3D rendering, videography and launch. When the brand launched into Kimpton Blythswood Barrington stayed on as creative director and has continued to work on all brand assets ensuring the creative side of the business never strays. This laser focussed approach and dedication to keeping the brand cohesive, immersive and exciting culminated in the appointment of LRV at 19 additional hotels within the IHG group – an appointment which could ring true to the sound of £3.1m.  These two projects to the side Barrington also found time to work on a host of exciting other projects – bringing to life Bombay Sapphires new packaging renders and sustainability approach, rebranding Hashtag Organics and helping it expand into the skincare market and finishing the year by being appointed as the designer to create the identity for the next 6 month exhibition at the V&A Dundee.  Seldom do we see a designer who reaches the heights that Barrington has in one discipline, yet he has managed to carry out work to this level across graphic design, branding, strategy, photography, web design, copy writing, digital marketing and art direction. Whats more Barrington has accomplished all of this while founding BLM Scotland, coordinating the BLM march and launching the Black Scottish Business fund to help others up behind him.