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H H GRDE W W W W U U U U U W W U U U U U a a a a a a “the advanced, the innovative, the creative” – Ralph Ginzburg
Avant Garde was never intended to However, the magazine is most notable be a commercial font. Rather, it’s first for the logogram that Lubalin created. version was a logo for the later issues of Avant Garde’s editor, Ralph Ginzburg the 1960’s magazine, Avant Garde. Herb gave nearly full design autonomy Lubalin served as the main designer for to Lubalin, but encouraged that the Avant Garde, and took advantage of this logogram reflect “the advanced, the position by experimenting with innovative innovative, and the creative” essence designs and creative typography. Each of the magazine. Lubalin achieved this Avant Garde cover was 11.25 x 10.75 with tight-fitting letter forms and ligatures. inches and bound in cardboard. This Lubalin’s design is beautiful, futuristic and large scale and iconoclastic binding instantly recognizable. However, it faced made the magazine incredibly popular in many challenges when released as a New York’s advertising and design circles. commercial font. “we needed something singular and entirely new” – Shoshana Ginzburg
The Avant Garde logogram that several times. I explained spurred from the mind of Herb that the logos he had offered us Lubalin, but not without inspiration for this project, so far, could have and influence from Ralph been on any magazine but that Ginzburg and his wife Shoshana. Avant Garde (adventuring into Ralph Ginzburg was the notorious unknown territory) by its very name publisher of the magazine, Eros was something nobody had seen and subsequently Avant Garde. before. We needed something Known for pushing boundaries singular and entirely new.” in both content and design, Ginzburg and his wife encouraged Lubalin to create an identity that was both futuristic and sleek.
Shoshana is most notably referenced in her suggestion to Lubalin about the direction of the identity: “I told him to imagine a jet taking off the runway into the future. I used my hand to describe an upward diagonal of the plane climbing skyward. He had me do “If I’d observed all the rules I’d never have got anywhere.” - Marilyn Monroe
After being released as the identity for the magazine, Avant Garde, Lubalin’s logogram became incredibly recognizable and popular. Realizing this popularity, Lubalin collaborated with Tom Carnase to create a cohesive set of characters and ligatures. Subsequently, Lubalin formed Lubalin, Burns & Co. (which later became the International Typeface Corporation) and released ITC Avant Garde Gothic in 1970.
The font was notable for its alternates and ligatures unlike any other typeface. Art Directors and Designers jumped at the chance to use the new characters in everything. However, Lubalin quickly realized that the intricacies of the font made it widely misused and misunderstood.
S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S QQ QQ QQ QQ QQ QQ QQ QQ B BB BB BB B B BB BB BB B
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G G RR GGG HG RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR G G S S S TIGS , S S S S S S S S S S S S
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G G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG TOUCHINGG RR GGG G RR GGG G RR GGG G RR G G BQS SQ BB QS SQ BB QS SQ BB QS SQ BB QS SQ BB QS SQ BB QS SQ BB QS SQ B As a font, ITC Avant Garde Gothic Alternative is undeniably beautiful. The glyphs created by alternating and intersecting parts of letters the “s” forms glyphs are elegant and visually interesting. The typeface is available in light, with parallel spines and book medium, demi bold and bold weights. conjoining terminals S $ The angles and ligatures of Avant Garde leave the graphic potential for fully connected groups of text. And, when executed well, Avant the descender of the Garde is a fantastic type choice. However, ITC Avant Garde Gothic has been notoriously abused by designers who misplace the letter “a” joins with the lower forms in poorly thought out solutions. The typeface is best used in L bar of the “l” and “e” E striking headlines rather than lengthy body copy. the leg of the “r” and “a” intersect to create K overlapping pairs R
aA left & right orientation leans Mm
the enlarged “p” & “f” overlap with the P bowl of the “r” f intersecting crossbars & ALTERNATE descenders create ligatures C & connections among letters G
alternating “t” bars interact with ascenders to Uu create alphabetic pairs HT L I GuRE aA Cc Ee Ff G K L Mm N P R S s $ H Tt Uu Vv Ww y 1 t¢£©•
“Avant Garde was Lubalin’s signature, and in his hands it had character; in others’ it was a flawed Futura-esque face.” - Steven Heller The most common version of ITC Avant Garde does not include the signature alternates and ligatures of Lubalin’s original logogram. Rather, the san-serif typeface is notable for it’s unique blend of classic and modern, gracing the AVANT GARDE identities of companies like adidas and asos. The condensed fonts were drawn Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Book Condensed, 12 pt by Ed Benguiat in 1974, and the obliques were designed by André Gürtler, Erich Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Medium Condensed, 12 pt Gschwind and Christian Mengelt in 1977. And, ITC Avant Garde was never set in Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Demi Condensed, 12 pt foundry type, rather it is now available as OpenType with Adobe. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Bold Condensed, 12 pt
The font family consists of 5 weights (4 Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Extra Light, 12 pt for condensed), with complementary Extra Light Oblique, 12 pt obliques for the widest width fonts. This Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes form of Avant Garde is available in Book, 12 pt Condensed, Light, Book, Medium, Demi Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes and Bold . Although without ligatures Book Oblique, 12 pt or alternates, this form of Avant Garde Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes is much more ubiquitous in corporate Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Medium, 12 pt design because it evokes a unique hybrid of classic and modern. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Medium Oblique, 12 pt Compared to Futura and Century Gothic, Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Demi, 12 pt Avant Garde still stands alone as a funky an geometric, yet simple and classic set Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Demi Oblique, 12 pt of characters. The phrase “Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes” shows Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Bold, 12 pt each letter of the alphabet in each variation of Avant Garde. Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes Bold Oblique, 12 pt Fenedex 2009 - Corporate identity
“For this corporate identity we wanted to use only a single typeface as graphic content. In combination with a strong color combination a very recognizable language arises.”
ACCÉLÉRATION 2007 - Catalog
“We wanted to use a sans- serif typeface that would CORPORTE USAGE offer a proper contrast while used with a more Although faced with the stigma of classical serif typeface” being a misused typeface, ITC Avant Garde has become an incredibly valuable font in the world of corporate identity and geometric grid. The alternating angles of the capital letter forms create geometric blocks that easily stack and visually indicate the flow of the piece. Additionally, Avant Garde provides compositions with a hybrid of classical and futuristic design.
While ITC Avant Garde is often misused, when executed properly, Avant Garde provides incredibly effective design. The book I Love Avant Garde displays a breadth of resources using of Avant Garde in corporate and catalogue representations. COLOPHON 1. Berry, John D. “Avant Garde, Then and Now.” CreativePro.com. Creative- Pro.com, 4 May 2003. Web. 18 Mar. 2012.
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aW W a aW W a H H H H aW W a aW W a H H H H aW W a aW W a HH H aW W a HH aW W a HH aW W a HH aW W a H H H H H W W W W W W W W U W W U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U a a a a a a a a U a a This type specimen book is one of a series of 15 books designed under the direction of instructor Anne H. Berry by the students of Graphic Design II at the University of Notre Dame during the spring semester of 2012.
This volume explores the use and origins of the Avant Garde typeface created by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase in 1970. This book has been researched, designed and edited by Sara Hillstrom.