Germano Facetti

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Germano Facetti (May 5, 1928-April 8, 2006) was an Italian graphic designer and head of design at Penguin Books from 1962 to 1971. Born in Milan he was arrested in 1943 for putting up anti-Fascist posters. He was deported to Mauthausen as a forced labourer, there he met the architect Ludovico Belgiojoso who later invited him to join his practice in Milan. He moved to London in the early 1950s where he studied typography at the Central School of Arts. By the late 50s he was art director at Aldus Books and a working interior designer, his interior for the Poetry Bookshop in Soho inspired the director of Penguin, Allen Lane, to invite him to his firm as art director in 1961. Facetti was instrumental in redesigning the Penguin line, introducing phototypesetting, the Marber grid, offset-litho printing and photography to their papberback covers. He was responsible for creating some of the most iconic book covers of the 20th century. After leaving Penguin in 1972 he briefly worked for the publisher Mondadori in Italy.