American graphic designer Herb Lubalin was known for being a typographic GOD. He began working at S&H, a healthcare advertising agency, where he quickly became known for his work with type. He became one of the pioneers of expressive typography, or word pictures, as he called it. He left the company to pursue graphic design instead of continuing to create advertisements.
Like other postmodernists, he rejected modernism, deeming the style too plain and bare, which did not fit the American essence. In response, he created a new conceptual style called ‘graphic expressionism’, which was the use of text in a creative and expressive way instead of the conventional way it is normally used, which was to simply have them be placed on the page with no other purpose.
He created many typefaces, one of which was called Avant Garde. Based off the logo font of the magazine Avant Garde, this font was different and innovative. As it was so unique and interesting, the font became widely used, but it was not used correctly, and so the font became stereotypical of the 1970’s.
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