Jacob ("Jake") Barton (born November 7, 1972, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

) is an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, and Founder of Local Projects, an experience design firm for museums, brands and public spaces based in New York, New York. His work focuses on storytelling and engaging audiences through emotion and technology.

Early career

In college, Jake Barton majored in performance studies (Bachelor in Science of Speech) at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. After graduating, he first worked doing set design work on Broadway productions. Eventually Barton started as an intern at the museum design firm,

Ralph Appelbaum Associates Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) is one of the world's longest-established and largest museum exhibition design firms with offices in New York City, London, Beijing, Berlin, Moscow, and Dubai.Bradford A. McKee, What's a Museum: What he says it i ...

. Working his way up, he eventually stayed at the company for seven years, and then in 2001 he left his job at Appelbaum and started graduate school at New York University, for a M.P.S. Interactive Telecommunications. He simultaneously launched Local Projects as a design firm for museums and public spaces.

Local projects

Barton was named by Crain’s as one of the Top Entrepreneurs of 2013, and his company, Local Projects, which he founded in 2002, has won awards such as the

National Design Awards The American National Design Awards, founded in 2000, are funded and awarded by Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New ...

for Interaction Design in 2013, the AIGA Design Competition for Effective Design in 2013 and multiple MUSE Awards in 2013. Barton’s work touches on the overlap of physical and digital, creating a range of applications for museums, education, architecture, and memorials. For the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...

, Local Projects created a next-generation application around experiencing physics on the playground, and has worked with

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considered ...

on the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. As the head of Media Design for the

National September 11 Memorial & Museum The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombi ...

, Local Projects led a team of designers to create multi-media experiences that focus on using visitor’s own stories as well as the use of algorithms to curate up-to-the moment journalism around the post 9/11 world. During his time working with the 9/11 Memorial, he also led a team, in partnership with Jer Thorp, to create an algorithm that solved the names arrangement on the panels. The names are not listed alphabetically or chronologically, but through personal relationships between the victims themselves. Jake has spoken about visitor participation in museums and "The Museum of You", and Local Projects credited with bringing emotional storytelling and innovation to architecture. Local Projects has partnered with architects such as Frank Gehry, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Bjarke Ingels to create new approaches in media and physical spaces. In March 2019, Local Projects was sold to MTM, an independent network dedicated to creating value between people and brands.

Works

References

External links

*
TED Talk: Jake Barton: The museum of you (TEDSalon NY2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Jake 1972 births Living people People from Brooklyn Tisch School of the Arts alumni Northwestern University School of Communication alumni American designers Museum designers Exhibition designers

Early career

Local projects

Works

See also

References

External links