ITC Avant Garde
Encyclopedia
ITC Avant Garde Gothic is a font family based on the logo font used in the Avant Garde
magazine. Herb Lubalin
devised the logo concept and its companion headline typeface, then he and Tom Carnase, a partner in Lubalin's design firm, worked together to transform the idea into a full-fledged typeface.
The condensed fonts were drawn by Ed Benguiat
in 1974, and the obliques were designed by André Gürtler, Erich Gschwind and Christian Mengelt in 1977.
The original designs include one version for setting headlines and one for text copy. However, in the initial digitization, only the text design was chosen, and the ligatures and alternate characters were not included.
The font family consists of 5 weights (4 for condensed), with complementary obliques for widest width fonts.
When ITC released the OpenType version of the font, the original 33 alternate characters and ligatures, plus extra characters were included.
Elsner+Flake also issued the ligatures and alternate characters separately as Avant Garde Gothic Alternate.
, Berthold, Compugraphic
, Dymo
, Star/Photon, Harris
, Mergenthaler, MGD Graphic Systems, and Varityper
all sold the face under the name Avant Garde, while Graphic Systems Inc.
offered the face as Suave.
The family consists of 4 fonts in 2 weights (book and demi) in 1 width, with complementary obliques.
In addition, the obliques are altered from the original, where optical corrections are no longer used.
Digital version was produced by Elsner+Flake. The family consists of 4 fonts in 2 weights (bold and light) in 1 width, with complementary italics.
Avant Garde (magazine)
Avant Garde was a magazine notable for graphic and logogram design by Herb Lubalin. The magazine had 14 issues and was published from January 1968 to July 1971.The editor was Ralph Ginzburg.Avant Garde 3 published in May 1968 lists in the masthead...
magazine. Herb Lubalin
Herb Lubalin
Herbert F. Lubalin was a prominent American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde, and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications...
devised the logo concept and its companion headline typeface, then he and Tom Carnase, a partner in Lubalin's design firm, worked together to transform the idea into a full-fledged typeface.
The condensed fonts were drawn by Ed Benguiat
Ed Benguiat
Ed Benguiat 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...
in 1974, and the obliques were designed by André Gürtler, Erich Gschwind and Christian Mengelt in 1977.
The original designs include one version for setting headlines and one for text copy. However, in the initial digitization, only the text design was chosen, and the ligatures and alternate characters were not included.
The font family consists of 5 weights (4 for condensed), with complementary obliques for widest width fonts.
When ITC released the OpenType version of the font, the original 33 alternate characters and ligatures, plus extra characters were included.
Elsner+Flake also issued the ligatures and alternate characters separately as Avant Garde Gothic Alternate.
Cold Type versions
ITC Avant Garde was never cast into actual foundry type, appearing first only in cold type. Alphatype, AutologicInformation International, Inc.
Information International, Inc., commonly referred to as Triple-I or III, was an early computer technology company; Founded by Edward Fredkin in 1962 in Maynard, Massachusetts. It then moved to Santa Monica, Culver City, and Los Angeles California. Triple-I merged with Autologic, Inc. in 1996...
, Berthold, Compugraphic
Compugraphic
Compugraphic Corporation was an American producer of typesetting systems and phototypesetting equipment, based, at the time of the Agfa merger, in Wilmington, Massachusetts, just a few miles from where it was founded...
, Dymo
DYMO
The DYMO routing protocol is successor to the popular Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing protocol and shares many of its benefits. It is, however, slightly easier to implement and designed with future enhancements in mind....
, Star/Photon, Harris
Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation is a Florida-based international communications equipment company that produces wireless equipment, electronic systems, and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, and commercial sectors. It is also the largest private-sector employer in...
, Mergenthaler, MGD Graphic Systems, and Varityper
Itek
Itek Corporation was a US defense contractor that initially specialized in the field of camera systems for spy satellites. In the early 1960s they built a conglomerate in a fashion similar to LTV or Litton, during which time they developed the first CAD system and explored optical disk technology...
all sold the face under the name Avant Garde, while Graphic Systems Inc.
Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...
offered the face as Suave.
ITC Avant Garde Std
It is an OpenType version sold by Adobe. The font family consists of 5 weights, with complementary obliques for all weights and widths. It supports Adobe Western 2 character set. However, the alternate characters, ligatures (except linguistic), and extra characters found in the ITC fonts are NOT included.ITC Avant Garde Multilingual
It is a version with Cyrillic support from ParaType. Cyrillic glyphs were developed at ParaType (ParaGraph) in 1993 by Vladimir Yefimov. Alternates and ligatures were added in 2008 by Olga Umpeleva.The family consists of 4 fonts in 2 weights (book and demi) in 1 width, with complementary obliques.
ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro
It is an OpenType variant of the original ITC Avant Garde Gothic, plus a suite of additional cap and lowercase alternates, new ligatures, unicase glyphs. It supports ISO Adobe 2, Adobe CE, Latin Extended character sets.In addition, the obliques are altered from the original, where optical corrections are no longer used.
ITC Avant Garde Mono
It is a monospaced version designed by Ned Bunnel in 1983.Digital version was produced by Elsner+Flake. The family consists of 4 fonts in 2 weights (bold and light) in 1 width, with complementary italics.
William Sans LET
William Sans LET is a very similar font, but the "regular" typeface is known as "Plain 1.0".Selected usage
- ITC Avant Garde Gothic is the currently main font for the logo of MeralcoMeralcoThe Manila Electric Company , also known as MERALCO or Meralco, is the Philippines' largest distributor of electrical power.The word MERALCO, is an acronym for Manila Electric Railroad And Light COmpany, which was the company's original name from 1903 to 1919.MERALCO is the Metro Manila's only...
and AdidasAdidasAdidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport... - ITC Avant Garde Gothic is one of the main typeface for Sony Corporation including AXN AsiaAXN AsiaAXN Asia is a pay-tv, cable and satellite TV channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It is available in throughout the 18 countries around the Asia-Pacific region...
and Fox Asia - ITC Avant Garde Gothic is the font of the logo/name of the french producer David Guetta
Derivatives
ITC Lubalin Graph is a slab-serif version of ITC Avant Garde, also designed by Lubalin.See also
- Century GothicCentury GothicCentury Gothic is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed for Monotype Imaging in 1991. It is a digital typeface that has never been made into actual foundry type...
- Futura (typeface)Futura (typeface)In typography, Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933...
- Avant Garde (magazine)Avant Garde (magazine)Avant Garde was a magazine notable for graphic and logogram design by Herb Lubalin. The magazine had 14 issues and was published from January 1968 to July 1971.The editor was Ralph Ginzburg.Avant Garde 3 published in May 1968 lists in the masthead...
External links
- ITC Classics: ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro
- What's Hot From ITC: October 2005
- Type Trading Card #11
- ITC Avant Garde Gothic Font Family - by Herb Lubalin, Tom Carnase
- Paratype: ITC Avant Garde Gothic font
- FontShop: Avant Garde Gothic Alternate
- ITC Avant Garde Mono - now a suspended page
- Adobe - ITC Avant Garde Gothic Std Full Family