Ed Benguiat started out as a percussionist with a degree from Brooklyn College of Music. Under the pseudonym “Eddie Benart”, he played with famous musicians such as Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. His father was a display director at Bloomingdale’s, and introduced him to the world of design.

After studying at Columbia University and the Workshop School of Advertising Art in New York, Benguiat became associate art director of Esquire magazine in 1953, and opened his own design studio that same year. In 1962, he joined Photo-Lettering Inc. as director of typographic design, and in 1970 he became vice-president of the International Typeface Corporation founded by Herb Lubalin and Aaron Burns (see Avant Garde Gothic, #23 in this list).

His fondness for calligraphy is clearly visible in all his typographical creations, including the 1977 font family which bears his name. Benguiat became one of the most popular advertising and packaging typefaces of the early 1980s.


Popular in Moscow too: ITC Benguiat (Photo: Paratype)