IT’S nice to do something so new, other people invent a word for it. American graphic designer Herb Lubalin gave letters another role in graphic design. Admirers called the procedure ‘typographic’.
Lubalin (1918-1981) was a typography-driven graphic designer. Together with Bradbury Thompson he flattened the road for the role of typography in advertising and visual communications. He didn’t saw himself as a typographer. ‘What I do is not really typography (…) It’s designing with letters. Aaron Burns called it ‘typographics’ and since you’ve got to put a name on things to make them memorable, ‘typographics’ is as good a name for what I do as any.’
Lubalin worked twenty years as advertising art director for Sudler & Hennessey before starting his own firm in 1964. From 1969 he led various partnerships with designers such as Tom Carnase, Tony DiSpigna and Seymour Chwast.
Not only letters, but also the words they formed, captured his interest. In the sixties he created as an editorial designer with publisher Ralph Ginzburg three magazines: Eros, Fact and Avant Garde. From the logo of the last magazine later evolved in the complete typesetting ITC Avant Garde. In the seventies Lubalin founded the magazine U&cl (shorthand for Upper and Lower Case). The publication was a platform for typographic experimentation.
Lubalin had a strong vision on his profession. This is what he wrote in 1971 in the book Graphic Designers in the USA I: ‘Designers, too, must understand the changes that are taken place in society today and be able to respond creatively to them. We cannot settle for one font of wisdom just as we can’t settle for one font of type. We must be creatures of the changing times.’

AIA Guide to New York City / 1969. See more

Logo for Fact. See more

Name and adres combined in a logotype.

Lubalin asked artists to use his logotype in unexpected locations. Together they formed a direct-mail booklet.

Candy package design / 1968

Logo for Sudler, Hennessey & Lubalin.

Avant Garde / september 1969. It was dedicated to the erotic gravures of Picasso. Lubalin created for this issue a complete alphabet based on the logo. A year later is was published as a font. See more

Logo Hampshire College /1968

Three font faces made by Herb Lubalin and his co-worker Tom Carnase / early seventies.

Logo for Sand Grenade.