The Mystery of the Graphic Artist, Or,Why 200,000,000 People Need an Art Education? Illustration by Seymour Chwast
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Aa Bb Cc !ME() Ft Gg Fib IiJj Kk 1.1 Mtn Nn Oo Pp Qq Hi- Ss ii Uu Vv Ww XxY( 12345678908z/FAESS( £%!?( )1] UPPER AND LOWER CASE, THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TYPOGRAPHICS PUBLISHED BY INTERNATIONAL TYPEFACE CORP., VOLUME THREE, NUMBER ONE, MARCH 1976 In This Issue: Editorial The editorial presents much deserved praise for one of the truly great living typeface designers, Hermann Zapf, designer of Optima, Melior, Palatino, and more than 40 contemporary typefaces. His return to active typeface design is a landmark victory for ethics. THE MYSTERY OF What's New from ITC? Emerging, naturally enough, from our editorial is a new THE GRAPHIC ARTIST, typeface, Zapf Book, designed especially for the Inter- national Typeface Corporation by Hermann Zapf, his first in almost a decade. OR,WHY 200,000,000 The Mystery of the Graphic Artist "Nobody knows the business we're in —but nobody." PEOPLE NEED AN ART In an effort to set things right, U&lc takes a look ahead to the upcoming Educators Conference scheduled for July and sponsored by the Art Directors Club of New EDUCATION. York. Interviews with outstanding figures in the field, professionals and educators, are herein recorded. Like it or not, there are some 200,000,000 people out there who Alphabet Soup don't know what a graphic artist is. And this is true from the top level As far as we know, no one has ever tackled this gastro- in government and industry, throughout our entire educational sys- nomic compendium before. Jerome Snyder and Mary- tem, and right smack into our own field of graphic art and design ellen Spencer have combined their gourmet tongues-in- where all too many of us are sorely in need of an education on the cheek to offer us a listing of authentic culinary nourish- ment from Avgolemono Soup to Zuppa Inglese. scope and requirements of our own profession. Yet, the truth of the matter is that our industry—the communi- Ms. Alexa Grace "Being Stabbed With Pinking Shears And A Poison Dart cations industry, of which graphic art and design is an essential part Person —While The Devil Children Cheer On:' Anyone —is one that is growing by leaps and bounds. It is an industry that en- who comes up with a caption like that certainly deserves compasses such monied categories as design (corporate, architec- space in LI&Ic. tural, packaging, editorial, film), art direction (advertising print, Edward Johnston's Calligraphy TV), typographics (type design and hand lettering), photography, At the turn of the century, Edward Johnston alone was illustration, printing and engraving, publishing (books, magazines, responsible for the great resurgence of interest in writing. newspapers)—to name just a few. An industry that makes a vast It has been said of many a pioneer spirit that his influence cultural contribution to society. An industry with a responsibility to was as great as his achievement. Such a saying proceeds create better understanding throughout the world. inevitably from acquaintance with these indivisible qualities in Johnston. Nonetheless, the graphic arts is still con_ sidered an elusive pro- fession, at best, at every level of our society. Metrics: A Weighty Problem It used to be easy. "36 x 24 x 36" sprang swiftly and glibly A bright young manor woman, fresh out of college, comes home from the tongue in describing, say, Racquel Welch. But and proudly announces that he or she wants to be a dancer. An artist. what about when the new metrics system takes over? A musician. An actor. And what happens? The ceiling falls in. The Jerome Snyder demonstrates precisely what metrics family starts wringing its hands and dressing in black. A doctor? will mean to you. And Racquel Welch. Fine. A lawyer? By all means. A bank president? Marvelous! But Something for Everybody from U&lc an artist? And, God forbid, he or she should want to become a graphic One of our more popular features returns with its cus- artist, then there's no hope at all. tomary collection of titillating trivia, including one famous Why should this be? ampersand (to keep the continuity going). Trouble with the communications industry, it would seem, is Memo Anyone? lack of communication. An effective graphic artist is a communi- The interoffice memorandum is to the advertising agency ...N.XE<DEFGHIJ KLNI.NO cator who, essentially, thinks visually. Conversely, a writer thinks what cream is to coffee. Jack Finke has contrived to get r verbally, but a good one also has the ability to visualize. The two his hands on several of these top secret classified mate- 7itcHouscena4stLiwn" attnehril'C together are largely responsible for promoting universal under- rials, for the edification of those who heretofore have his •-laltaltanc never fully appreciated the scope and depth of thought standing. This being so, why then is the visual aspect of communi- tit bAh sa k salts; involved in the everyday office communication. D cations—the graphic arts—so totally and irresponsibly neglected Initial Puzzle tO. at every level. The typographic crossword puzzle in the last issue turned omOlieF1-1112.3g)%1A Look at it this way. out to be nothing short of a disaster. There were no win- A guy picks up a book of matches in the street. He knows what ners. We prevailed upon our puzzle man to come up with to do with the matches all right, but does he for one moment ever something a little easier. contemplate how the message or illustration on the cover got there? A Cosmo - anthropological History When directed through the maze of a complicated architectural Once in a long long while, someone will come in off the structure by means of informative signage, does it ever cross his streets with a portfolio that knocks your head off. Add to that, the bearer turns out to have majored in anthro- mind who it was who figured out the letterforms and symbols? When pology. The suggestion was made that said bearer, one he thumbs through books, newspapers, magazines, ads—when he Joseph Pomerance, combine his twin talents and come looks at TV spots —does it once occur to him that the messages with- back with something. Something great. He did. in required the astute involvement of an artist or a writer or both? CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1,1976 HERB LUBALIN, EDITORIAL & DESIGN DIRECTOR AARON BURNS, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR EDWARD RONDTHALER, EDITORAL DIRECTOR JACK ANSON FINKE. ASSOCIATE EDITOR JEROME SNYDER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR JAN McKAY, ANNA McCUSKER. TONY DISPIGNA, ANDY DIDORA, LOWRY THOMPSON, MARK HUIE. ART & PRODUCTION EDITORS JOHN PR ENTKI, BUSINESS AND ADVERTISING MANAGER EDWARD GOTTSCHALL, EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR © 1976 AND PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES A YEAR IN MARCH. JUNE, OCTOBER AND DECEMBER. BY INTERNATIONAL TYPEFACE CORPORATION 216 EAST ASTH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017 A JOINTLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF PHOTO LETTERING, INC. AND LUBALIN, BURNS & CO. INC. CONTROLLED CIRCULATION POSTAGE PAID AT NEW YORK. N.Y. AND AT FARMINGDALE, N.Y. BOARD OF DIRECTORS, EDWARD RONDTHALER, CHAIRMAN AARON BURNS, PRESIDENT HERB LUBALIN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT JOHN PRENTKI, VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL MANAGER BOB FARBER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT ED BENGUIAT, VICE PRESIDENT STEPHEN KOPEC, VICE PRESIDENT U.S. SUBSCRIPTION TO INDIVIDUALS $6.00; SINGLE COPIES $1.50 ELSEWHERE SUBSCRIPTION, 58.00:SINGLE COPIES $2.60. Hermann Zapf: came sixteen years later when he many graphic exhibitions, and is the worked as an apprentice retoucher. author of four books: Pen and Graver, Manuale Typographicum (published in and Tspe. Designer In his four years as a retoucher he dis- covered the writings and letterforms two editions), About Alphabets, and of Rudolf Koch and Edward Johnston. Typographic Variations. It was then that his sensitivity to beauty The first Hermann Zapf typeface to be in letterform was aroused. marketed was Gilgengart, in 1940. It At home, "with tireless zeal I wrote was ten years later that the first of the pages upon pages of letters that often famous Palatino family was introduced. left me unsatisfied.... Evenings and Users and lovers of typography know weekends I sat home writing and writ- Hermann Zapfbest for his Optima, ing—rather, practicing, for the waste- Palatino, and Melior families as well basket was always full of written pages. as for Michelangelo, Sistina, the Aldus My parents considered me almost out family, and more than forty other faces. of my senses... All his typefaces are characterized by In 1938 the twenty-year-old Zapf went exquisiteness of design, an air of quie t Editorial: to work for the printing studio of Paul distinction, of innovation without eccen- "Well, my school report showed a B in Koch, the son of Rudolf Koch, and later tricity. But whatever the typeface, his penmanship... and a postcard written in that year became an independent supreme concern is never with single on a Rhine vacation in the summer of lettering artist. letters but with their fusion with each other and into a working text. To him, 1929 would offer scant encouragement In the following thirty-eight years, while "Type is the tie or ligature between to any teacher of lettering...." So writes establishing his reputation as one of the author and reader." Hermann Zapf in his autobiographical foremost calligraphers and type designers "About Alphabets" as he looks over his of our time, he served as type director His most popular faces—Palatino, shoulder seeking his beginnings as a for the D. Stempel AG type foundry of Melior, and Optima, as well as his new calligrapher and type designer. Frankfurt, as a design consultant for the Zapf Book— all take an established style He was born in 1918 in Niirnberg.