Ed Benguiat

Ed Benguiat (pron. "ben'-gee ot"; born Ephram Edward Benguiat, October 27, 1927) is an American typographer. He has crafted over 600 typefaces including Tiffany, Bookman, Panache, Edwardian Script, and the self-titled typefaces Benguiat and Benguiat Gothic.

He is also known for his designs or redesigns of the logotypes for Esquire, The New York Times, Coke, McCall’s, Ford, Reader’s Digest, Photography, Look, Sports Illustrated, The Star Ledger, The San Diego Tribune, AT&T, A&E, Estee Lauder, ... the list goes on and on.[1]

Other notable examples of Benguiat’s work are the logotypes for Playboy, the original Planet of the Apes film, and Super Fly.

Benguiat grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He was once a very prominent jazz percussionist playing in several big bands with the likes of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. In an interview Benguiat stated this of his chosen career as a designer: "I’m really a musician, a jazz percussionist. One day I went to the musician’s union to pay dues and I saw all these old people who were playing bar mitzvahs and Greek weddings. It occurred to me that one day that’s going to be me, so I decided to become an illustrator."

Benguiat is an avid pilot and enjoys flying his personal plane. Benguiat teaches at the School of Visual Arts in his native New York.[2]

The Ed Benguiat Font Collection

The Ed Benguiat Font Collection is a casual font family named after the designer. Designed by Ed Benguiat and House Industries, the CD includes 5 Benguiat-inspired typefaces and a series of whimsical icons, dubbed "bengbats," an exclusive interview by the House Industries staff, and Benguiat's own jazz percussion in the background.[3]

Career

Ed Benguiat was one of the most prolific lettering artists and became typographic design director at Photo-Lettering, affectionately known as PLINC. He designed logotypes for publications like “Esquire and New York Times and for movies like Superfly and The Guns of Navarrone”. He had drawn thousands of alphabets and typefaces including Souvenir, Bookman, and Benguiat. In the early 1970s he began teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York and continues to work there.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Halperin, Elisa. "TYPO Berlin 2008 Image". Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Bruckner, D. J. R. "DESIGN VIEW; How the Alphabet Is Shaping Up In a Computer Age", The New York Times, September 10, 1989. Accessed November 27, 2007. "This autumn he will receive the Type Directors Club award, and two retrospectives of his work are scheduled for early next year, one at the School of Visual Arts, where he teaches, and one at the International Typeface Corporation's gallery on Hammarskjold Plaza."
  3. ↑ Q&A with Ed Benguiat at the Wayback Machine (archived July 19, 2011)
  4. ↑ Grant, Angelynn. "The Ed Benguiat Collection." Communication Arts 46.7 (2004): 194-197. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web.

External links