Herb Lubalin
Herbert F. Lubalin was an American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde.
Biography
Herb Lubalin was born March 17, 1918, in New York. There he lived with his parents, older sister, and twin brother. His parents were very appreciative of the arts and were supportive of his artistic capabilities and talent. Early into his education, his parents realized that he was color blind.Education and early career
Lubalin entered Cooper Union at the age of seventeen, and quickly became interested in typography as a communicative implement. Gertrude Snyder notes that during this period Lubalin was particularly struck by the differences in interpretation one could impose by changing from one typeface to another, always “fascinated by the look and sound of words expanded their message with typographic impact.”After graduating in 1939, Lubalin had a difficult time finding work; he was fired from his job at a display firm after requesting a raise from $8/week to $10.
Lubalin would briefly land at Reiss Advertising, and then at Sudler & Hennessey, where he worked for 19 years. Lubalin and John J. Graham created the original NBC Peacock in 1957 at Sudler. The Cooper Union web book, 100 Days of Herb Lubalin, displays a Sudler ad from the 1950s that shows Andy Warhol, Art Kane and John Pistilli were among his employees.
Pistilli Roman was Lubalin's first typeface. Google Images show it later comprised the trademarks of Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to 1985.
In 1961 Lubalin designed the trademark for the Saturday Evening Post, which it used for several years. His work redesigning the magazine was portrayed in a cover painting by Norman Rockwell.
Lubalin left Sudler to start his own firm, Herb Lubalin, Inc., in 1964.
Private practice
Lubalin created the trademark for the World Trade Center at its opening. He designed versions of Reader's Digest, New Leader and the entire series of Eros magazine, the last of which was the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case on obscenity, Ginzburg v. United States 383 U.S. 463.''Eros Magazine'' and ''Fact Magazine''
In Lubalin's private studio, he worked on a number of wide-ranging projects, from poster and magazine design to packaging and identity solutions. It was here that he became best known for his work on a series of magazines published by Ralph Ginzburg: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde.Eros devoted itself to the beauty of the rising sense of sexuality and experimentation, particularly in the burgeoning counterculture. It was a quality production with no advertising, and the large format made it look like a book rather than a quarterly magazine. It was printed on varying papers and the editorial design was some of the greatest that Lubalin ever did. It quickly folded after an obscenity case brought by the US Postal Service.
Ginzburg and Lubalin followed with Fact, largely founded in response to the treatment Eros received. This magazine's inherent anti-establishment sentiment lent itself to outsider writers who could not be published in mainstream media; Fact managing editor Warren Boroson noted that “most American magazine, emulating the Reader's Digest, wallow in sugar and everything nice; Fact has had the spice all to itself.” Rather than follow with a shocking design template for the publication, Lubalin chose an elegant minimalist palette consisting of dynamic serifed typography balanced by high-quality illustrations. The magazine was printed on a budget, so Lubalin stuck with black and white printing on uncoated paper, as well as limiting himself to one or two typefaces and paying a single artist to handle all illustrations at bulk rate rather than dealing with multiple creators. The result was one of dynamic minimalism that emphasized the underlying sentiment of the magazine better than “the scruffy homemade look of the underground press screaming typography of sensationalist tabloids” ever could.
Fact itself folded in controversy as Eros before it, after being sued for several years by Barry Goldwater, the Republican presidential candidate, about whom Fact wrote an article entitled “The Unconscious of a Conservative: A special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater.” Goldwater was awarded a total of $90,000, effectively putting Fact out of business.