Herb Lubalin (1918 – 1981) renowned graphic designer

Herb Lubalin Poster

A prominent American typographic designer working across a wide range of graphic fields, including posters, ads, signage, postage stamp, typeface and editorial design, Lubalin was recognised as an innovator and iconoclast advent phototypesetting in the 1960s. This allowed him to play with words, images and scale on a page with a considerable licence. 

For a graphic designer, Herb Lubalin had two handicaps: he was colour blind and left-handed. Years later, few graphic designers were as entirely capable of embodying the aesthetics of their times.

Background

He was born in New York to German and Russian parents with a twin brother named Irwin. At the age of 17, Lubalin entered Cooper Union, where he became a master of calligraphy from a poor student. He represented revolutionary American graphic design from the late fifties through the early seventies. The art of photography and illustration was one of the items he identified as “Lubalinesque.” His new eclectic sensitiveness so deeply permeated advertisement, editorial and package design that the period may best be named. His work was a window of opportunity on how emerging technology can alter typographic expression. The type of Lubalin exploded off the printed page and into the consciousness of popular culture.

Professional Career

After completing his studies at the Cooper Union in New York (now the Lubalin Archive) where he graduated in 1939, he worked as a freelance graphic designer and typographer before taking on Art Director position for various agencies, including Sudler & Hennessey (from 1945). In 1964, he founded his own consulting company, Herb Lubalin Inc. (from 1981, with Seymour Chwast and Alan Peckolick (1940–2017), becoming Pushpin, Lubalin, Peckolick Associates Inc.). 

International Typeface Corporation

In 1970, together with Aaron Burns and Ed Rondaler, he formed the International Typeface Corporation to license original typefaces to grant royalties to their creators. 

Typefaces

His typefaces included Avant-garde Gothic (1970, with Tom Carnase), Lubalin Graph (1974) and Serif Gothic (1974, with Tony DiSpigna). In several magazines, including Eros (1962) and Avant Garde (1968), he also played a key design role for a couple of years, and in 1973 he created, designed and edited the influential international type journal U &lc. His work has been recognised internationally through his many publications and various exhibits and awards, including the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) medal in 1981.

Source

D’Onofrio, G., Heller, S. (2017). The Moderns: Midcentury American Graphic Design. United States: ABRAMS.

Oxford University Press. (2004). A Dictionary of Modern Design (1st ed.).

More on Graphic Designers

  • Walter Allner (1906–2006), an American painter and designer

    Walter Allner (1906–2006), an American painter and designer

    Walter Allner (1906–2006) was an American painter and designer known for his creativity, artistic skill, and imagination. He was trained at the Bauhaus under Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, and Joost Schmidt and used bold colours, strong typography, and striking imagery in his designs.Read More →

  • Wolfgang Weingart – Swiss Typographer and Designer

    Wolfgang Weingart – Swiss Typographer and Designer

    He was dubbed “the father” of New Wave or Swiss Punk typography . LEARN MORERead More →

  • Keith Haring (1958 – 1990) – art that danced

    Keith Haring (1958 – 1990)  – art that danced

    Keith Haring was best known for his graffiti-like painting, initially on the black paper used to cover discontinued billboard advertisements in the New York subway. After after a feverish 1980’s style career of surging popular success and grudging critical attention, Haring died of AIDS in 1991 at the age of 31.Read More →

  • Ikko Tanaka (1930 -2002) 🇯🇵 Graphic Design blend of East and West

    Ikko Tanaka (1930 -2002)  🇯🇵 Graphic Design blend of East and West

    Ikko Tanaka was a Leading Graphic Designer in Japan. He had an enormous impact on the post-war visual culture in Japan.Read More →

  • Gustav Klutsis (1895 -1944) photographic montage

    Gustav Klutsis (1895 -1944) photographic montage

    Gustav Klutsis was a Latvian artist and graphic, poster and applied arts designer who was a devoted supporter of the Boshevik regime and a member of the communist party. He was the pioneer of photomontage in the Soviet Union and an acclaimed graphic designer and painter. Influences included Suprematism and Constructivism. LEARN MORERead More →

  • Paul Bacon (1923 – 2015) – created looks for books

    Paul Bacon (1923 – 2015) – created looks for books

    Paul Bacon was not a household name, but anyone who has a passion for books will have seen his works. Bacon was an artist, who used minimal imagery and bold typography to sell famous novels such as, “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest’s and Phillip Roth’s “Portnoy’s complaint?Read More →

  • Robert Bonfils (1886 – 1972) French Graphic Artist

    Robert Bonfils (1886 – 1972) French Graphic Artist

    Born in Paris, Robert Bonfils was a French graphic artist, painter, and designer. He studied at the École Germain-Pilon in 1903 and at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1906. He worked for Henri Hamm, a furniture designer. His work included paintings, bookbindings, ceramics for Sèvres, Bianchini-Frerier silk, wallpaper and interior design layouts.…

  • Dan Friedman (1945 – 1995) American Graphic Designer

    Dan Friedman (1945 – 1995) American Graphic Designer

    Dan Friedman (1945–1995) was a prolific graphic and furniture designer, artist, writer, and educator. Friedman’s work posed a radical challenge to tradition and commodification in design practice. His work is held in the collections of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.Read More →

  • Giovanni Pintori (1912 – 1999) Italian Graphic Design

    Giovanni Pintori (1912 – 1999) Italian Graphic Design

    Giovanni Pintori (1912–1999) was an Italian graphic designer best known for his advertising work with Olivetti. His posters for the Lettera 22 and Olivetti logo are renowned for their use of geometric shapes and minimalist design. Read More →

  • Poster for Nikon (1957) by Yusaku Kamekura

    Poster for Nikon (1957) by Yusaku Kamekura

    Yusaku Kamekura’s poster emphasises the brilliance and clarity attained with the Nikon lens and the technical perfection of his client’s camera by using brilliant optical patterns and powerful, white letter-forms against an intensely dark background. Read More →

  • René Kieffer (1875 -1964) – French Bookbinder

    René Kieffer (1875 -1964) – French Bookbinder

    René Kieffer was a gilder at the Chambolle-Duru bindery for ten years. In 1903, set up his workshop at 99 boulevard St-Germain, Paris. Later he moved to 41 rue St-Andre-des-Arts and finally, in 1910, to 18 rue Seguier. A disciple of Henri Marius ­Michel, his work shifted from classical forms to motifs in the Art…

  • Robert Oxenaar (b.1939) Designer of Dutch Banknotes

    Robert Oxenaar (b.1939) Designer of Dutch Banknotes

    Robert Oxenaar (1929 – 2017) Designer of Dutch banknotes and stamps. Head of the Art and Design branch of the Dutch postal service. Helped launch a new generation of Dutch designers in the 1970s, including notables like Gert Dumbar.Read More →

  • Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) American multi-disciplined designer

    Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) American multi-disciplined designer

    Herbert Bayer was one of the Bauhaus’s most influential students, teachers, and proponents. Most of Bayer’s photographs come from the decade 1928–38, when he was based in Berlin working as a commercial artist. He designed the show Road to Victory (1942), which would set the course for Steichen’s influential approach to photography.Read More →

  • Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 – 1995) Japanese Textile Designer

    Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 – 1995) Japanese Textile Designer

    Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929- 1995) was a Japanese textile and graphic designer: born in Kyoto. He was considered the first Japanese textile designer to be recognised for contemporary design rather than for traditional art and craft. The main characteristic of his work was over sized motifs.Read More →

  • František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) – Czech architect and stage and graphic designer.

    František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) – Czech architect and stage and graphic designer.

    František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) was a Czech architect and stage and graphic designer. He was born in Prague. Zelenka’s career in the theatre was initiated by K.H. Hilar, the National Theatre director in Prague in 1926.Read More →

  • Selwyn Image (1849- 1930) British Priest, Artist, Designer

    Selwyn Image (1849- 1930) British Priest, Artist, Designer

    In 1873, Image was ordained a priest in the Church of England. From 1882, he was associated with A.H. Mackmurdo in forming the Century Guild and designed the first issue (1884) of the Guild’s publication, The Hobby Horse. Read More →

  • Hermann Zapf (1918 – 2015) German Typographer and Calligrapher

    Hermann Zapf (1918 – 2015) German Typographer and Calligrapher

    Hermann Zapf (1918 – 2015) was born and educated in Nuremberg. Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, a calligrapher and typeface designer, was his wife. Palatino, Optima, and Zapfino are some of the typefaces he developed.Read More →

William Dwiggins – Typographer and all rounder – Encyclopedia of Design

William Addison Dwiggins was an American type designer and typographer. He was well rounded and was loved for his prolific work as an illustrator, book designer, type designer, playwright, (puppets) and author. Dwiggins was born in Martinsville, Ohio in 1880, he had studied East in Chicago, and then he moved to Boston.

Massimo Vignelli designer of subway maps to corporate logos – Encyclopedia of Design

Massimo Vignelli was an Italian graphic, industrial, interior, and furniture designer. He was born in Milan. He was professionally active in Milan, New York, and Chicago. Vignelli was an acclaimed graphic designer who created a modernist vision with book covers, furniture, corporate logos and even the New York City subway map.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.