BreakingBoundaries Avant Garde

inspiring

eye-catching

ESH

BreakingBoundaries

by Michelle Sybert

Avant Garde

ColophonInspiring

Eye-catchingElegant

Modern

Masterful

Title Page

“Light and Shadow”study of Matisse’s

Blue Nude II

Avant Gardemasterfully designedThe History of Avant GardeITC Avant Garde was designed by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnese in 1970, based on Herb Lubalin’s logo for Avant Garde, a magazine produced by Ralph Ginzburg and well-known for its criticism of American society and government, sexual themes, and crude language. Ginzburg released fourteen issues of the magazine and was popular in a certain circles in New York. The lasting legacy of the magazine, however, was the font Avant Garde. Lubalin designed the logo in 1968, and following with the entire Avant Garde font two years later. The font was initially designed for use in logos or headers and consisted of only capital letters and the famous set of ligatures. ITC chose to release only the text version of the font and did not release a ligature set until the invention of OpenType, which allowed for a larger character set. The font is available in at least fourteen typefaces from ITC.

Herb LubalinHerb Lubalin was born in 1918 and attended The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art after he turned seventeen. It was here that he became fascinated with the power of typography to change the interpretation of the words set in it. He initially struggled to find a job, but ultimately worked at

Reiss Advertising for twenty years before beginning his own studio, Herb Lubalin, Inc. in 1964. He became most well-known for his work on Ralph Ginzburg’s succession of magazines, Eros, Fact, and finally, Avant Garde. Lubalin’s style could be described as minimalistic. Some of his most famous logos include Families, Mother and Child, Marriage, and L’eggs, though his logo for Avant Garde is probably his most recognizable piece.

“Glance,” studyof Picasso’s

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

Avant Gardemodern perspective

LigaturesOne of the first characteristics of Avant Garde that springs to mind is distinctive. That’s because Herb Lubalin designed Avant

Garde with the thirty-three ligatures. These were unfortunately not included when ITC first released Avant Garde in 1970 due to the limitations of TrueType. Now that OpenType has arrived, ITC has released a ligature set including all the original ligatures, plus new characters and ligatures with diacritics. These special characters can spice up your designs with a fresh, modern perspectiveon the alphabet.

“Whether Mr. Mutt madethe fountain with his own hands or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared underthe new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object.”

-attributed to Beatrice Wood

“Contrast” studyof Duchamp’s Fountain

Avant Gardesimple elegance

R. Muttaka

Ma

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FountainBook 60 pt/10 pt

Extra Light 96 pt/10 pt

Re

ad

yma

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Original Chosen 1917Medium 48 pt/10 pt

Rep

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ed

in 1

960

DaDaan anti-rational, anti-cultural art movement.Bold 36 pt/10 pt

Avant Ga

rde

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm NnOo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Book Condensed 14 pt/8 ptMedium, Demi, and Bold Condensed also available

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm NnOo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Medium 14 pt/8 ptMedium Oblique also available

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm NnOo Pp Qq Rr Ss TtUu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Extralight 14 pt/8 ptExtralight Oblique also available

“Movement” based on Frank Stella’s

Harran II

Avant Gardeeye-catching

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj KkLl Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu

Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Book Oblique 18 pt/10 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj KkLl Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt UuVv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Demi 18 pt/10 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj KkLl Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu

Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Demi Oblique 18 pt/10 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj KkLl Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu

Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Bold 18 pt/10 pt; also available in Bold Oblique

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj KkLl Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt UuVv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm NnOo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Medium 14 pt/8 ptMedium Oblique also available

Book 18 pt/10 pt

“Color Theory” based on Wassily Kadinsky’s Farbstudie Quarate

Wassily KadinskyWassily Kadinsky was among the most influential members of the early Avant Garde movement. The Russian painter began one of the earliest groups credited as a modern art movement, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in 1911 with Franz Marc and August Macke. Although the outbreak of World War I disrupted the group, Kadinsky returned to Germany in 1921 to join the Bauhaus school at the personal invitation of its founder. Both his paintings and his theories on art were and are extremely influential, and he continues to inspire new artists in the post-modern era.

Avant Garde Book 12 pt/Book Oblique 8 pt

Avant Gardeinspiring

Century GothicIn 1991, Monotype Imaging released Century Gothic, a geometric sans serif, as a new version of Futura. The larger x-height and more uniform stroke width reveal that Century Gothic is actually more similar to Avant Garde, which was a key inspiration for the font. Though the fonts are very similar, there are some key differences as shown in the large letters on this page. Avant Garde Bold is shown in orange, Lubalin Graph Demi in green, and Century Gothic Bold is depicted is blue. Though Avant Garde may have inspired Century Gothic, why choose the copy when you can have the original?

Century Gothic Book 12 pt/Italic 8 pt

Lubalin GraphAfter designing Avant Garde, Herb Lubalin was inspired to create a serif version. Lubalin Graph maintains the geometric appearance and large x-height of Avant Garde, while adding additional variety to the Avant Garde family through the serifs. By pairing Lubalin Graph with the great variety of weights, faces, and ligatures already available in Avant Garde, Lubalin’s designs offer complete versatility.

ITC Lubalin Graph Book 12 pt/Book Oblique 8 pt

j uj uj u

Breaking Boundaries: Avant GardeWritten, Illustrated, and Designed by Michelle SybertDecember 2011

Printed at Indiana University BloomingtonBound with a three-hole pamphlet stitch

Paper provided by Mohawk Paper. The cover is printed onVia Satin Radiant Weight 80lb coverstock and the interior pages are printed on 32 lb Navajo Smooth Brilliant White.

The front cover image is based on Franz Marc’s 1911 oil painting The Yellow Cow. The image on the back cover is based on Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel, which was first created in 1913.

No. of

Colophon

Avant Garde:masterfully designed

modern perspective

simple elegance

inspiring

eye-catching

ESH