1O O Typographic developments
‘Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form’(Goodreads. com, 2017). It is through this visual form that many typographers over the years have expressed ideas and challenged certain beliefs of society. Within the 1970’s, typography was a known form of expression and allowed for typographers such as Herb Lubalin and Paula Scher to produce work that would have major impact on type within the era. 1970’s typography was extremely bold and was often used to express a much deeper meaning then just a cool retro look. Avant Garde and Helvitica were extremely popular typefaces within the 1970’s however it was the use of typefaces like Candice, Bookman and Serif Gothic that truly helped define the era’s typography.
“era filled with vibrant colours, extravagant trends and of course incredible typography”
Top Middle; Image 4 - ITC Avant Garde Type Bottom Left; Image 1- Herb Lubalin’s peice - Beards Bottom Right; Image 2 - Herb Lubalin’s piece ‘Carol Anthony Friends’
Top Left; Image 5- Paula Scher’s piece - The Best of Jazz Bottom Left; Image 3- Herb Lubalins piece - Avant Garde Alphabet
The 1970’s was an era filled with vibrant colours, extravagant trends and of course incredible typography. Typography within the 70’s was a form used to express certain meanings or ideas and in tern change how people were to view it. Although 70’s typography may have taken inspiration from the eras before it, there were many new ideas on how to express meaning through type that sets the era apart from the rest. Within 70’s typography many design fundamentals were used and it was these fundamentals such as form, shape, colour and space that typographers used to help portray beautiful,
creative and defining pieces. Herb Lubalin was an American typographer who was extremely talented at using these fundamentals to express his typographic work. It was his ability to ‘transform words and meaning from a medium to an inextricable part of the message’ (Blogs.wayne.edu, 2017) that helped him define his work and in tern have a major effect on defining 1970’s typography. As seen in images 1, 2 & 3 his use of shape and form allow him to showcase bold pieces that indeed challenge the viewer to look a little harder into the work to uncover the message. His pieces although bold and sometimes hard to read always in the end portray the meaning behind the type. It was his use of typefaces such as his most famous ITC Avant Garde(Image 4) that truly defined his style and of course the style of type for the 1970’s. Lubalin’s typographic designs influenced 1970’s typography to a point where it almost defined it entirely. However there are other defining elements of 1970’s typography that although Lubalin dabled in he was not known for. This was the use of colours and the use of the grib system. Paula Scher is a typographer whom is extremely well known for her consistent controversial typographic pieces. ‘Her style of design communicates with contemporary audiences through the use of pop iconography, music and film’(Csun.edu, 2017). It was this style and this approach that gave her work such high esteem and not only allowed her to reach audiences throughout the decades but also allowed her to define apart of history within 1970’s typography. Most of her work throughout the 1970’s can be found on posters and album covers. Scher was not a fan of Swiss design that was popular within the 1950’s, therefor this allowed her to express a new form of typography that dabbled in modernism and controversial themes. Her most famous piece from the 1970’s was ‘The Best of Jazz’(Image 5), this piece used the grid system to perfection and showed that although the type is perfectly arranged the audience must look carefully to understand the meaning.
It is through the use of form, shape and colour that 1970’s typography was defined and to this day is known for. Typographers such as Herb Lubalin and Paula Scher both used different approaches to create their typographic pieces, and it was these
approaches that helped explicate what 1970’s typography is. The use of form, shape and colour are the underlying elements that helped create an era filled with bright, bold and intricate pieces of typography.