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A black and white typographic composition featuring large, interlocking white letters. The ornate, swirling characters create a complex abstract shape, with smaller blocks of text tucked into the gaps.

New Unit Editions monograph to celebrate the late, great graphic designer Herb Lubalin

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Date
12 June 2012

Not many graphic designers enjoy near-universal acclaim but the late great Herb Lubalin falls into that category.Now his humungous talent is being celebrated in a new monograph from Unit Editions, tracing his career from his early days in the Mad Men era advertising hothouse of New York in the 1950s and 1960s through to becoming “one of the world’s most influential typographers and graphic designers.”

Edited by heavyweight trio Adrian Shaughnessy, Tony Brook and Alexander Tochilovsky, the 448-page limited edition book has just been made available for pre-order with hopes that it will coincide with a renewed interest in his work emerging in Japan and Korea as well as here in the west. The visuals show that it will go beyond presenting some of his most influential work in all its glory (such as his Avant Garde typeface), giving readers a glimpse into some rare archive photographs of the man himself at work.

A book cover with bold typography in blue and red. It reads “Avant Garde” at the top, followed by “Portraits of the American People” and “A monumental portfolio of photographs”. A small, blue-tinted photograph of a group of people is nestled within the text.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A typographic poster on a bright orange background. The letters of the alphabet are rendered in white, interlocking and overlapping to form a single, abstract vertical shape.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A typographic poster with bold white text on a black background. It reads “THE NEXT WAR WILL DETERMINE NOT WHAT IS RIGHT BUT WHAT IS LEFT.”
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

An illustration of a pair of breasts against a bright blue background. A yellow banner across the top features the words “Avant Garde” in a bold, black typeface.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

The cover of a magazine with a large black block filling the top two thirds. Below, the word “Typahgrrphy” is written in a bold serif font using black, blue and red letters.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A graphic design piece on an ochre background featuring a large, stylised black number “72”. The numerals are rendered in a fluid, swirling typeface with exaggerated curves and flourishes.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A black and white photograph of six people in an office. One person in the foreground wears glasses and a decorative, fan-like headpiece, while the others look on and smile.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A black and white advertisement featuring a close-up, low-angle shot of a person wearing glasses and smoking a cigar. Bold text below the image reads “Some of our best friends are bigots.” and includes the Ebony magazine logo.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

The cover of Fact magazine features bold black typography on a white background. A quote reads “Bobby Kennedy is the most vicious, evil _ _ _ _ _ in American politics today,” says lawyer Melvin Belli.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A black and white image of a person in a suit standing before a wall covered in dense, varied typography. The text includes words such as “BASS”, “FUDGE” and “SPAGHETTI” in a variety of styles.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

A black and white contact sheet featuring six frames of the same two scenes. One shows three people sitting at a table, while the other shows two people lounging in a room.
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Unit Editions: Herb Lubalin, American Graphic Designer, 1918—81

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

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