Herb, The Creator of Lubalin

Lubalin Typeface Research

Herb Lubalin is actually one of the few artists I focused on during my third semester of Graphic Design. He was a graphic designer, typographer and type designer. He was also the creator of the typeface, Lubalin Graph. 

"Lubalin Graph, designed by the American graphic designer Herb Lubalin. It's a geometric, slab-serif, that comes in multiple weights". The typeface was originally released in 1974. Here's an image of what Herb's design looks like. 

According to my research, this typeface is actually a Slab Serif ("A Slab Serif is a type of serif font that evolved from the Modernstyle. The serifs are square and larger, bolder than serifs of previous typestyles. Considered a sub-classification of Modern, Slab Serif is further divided into") version of his original typeface design, Avant Garde. Like other typeface designers, Lubalin also created a family of sizes for his design. Here's an image of some avant garde font. I can see from this image that it's very similar in size and height. The ITC Lubalin typeface however looks more blocky and strong. 

I came across a site that explains the similarities between the two typefaces. "The 1974 design for ITC Lubalin Graph is based on Herb Lubalin’s earlier design of ITC Avant Garde Gothic. The basic geometric character shapes are identical in both designs, while Lubalin Graph has the added feature of slab serifs. It conveys a strong, no-nonsense look in display type from headlines to packaging." 

There isn't all that much online information about the history of ITC Lubanlin Typeface. However I found out plenty of information Herb Lubalin's other designs.