This was a study of Ed Benguiat, and his typefaces. Mr Benguiat has created a huge amount of typefaces, was one of the first typographers to work with ITC along side Herb Lubalin, and an innovator at PLinc. This study was to look at a few of his typefaces, rip them apart, and put them back together.

It is almost impossibleto examine all the typefaces Ed Benguiat has given us, well over 600. But these few are some of his most iconic typefaces. Benguiat’s fonts have a very whimsical nature. He does not shy away from decorative type either. Benguiat believes that readability is secondary to recognizability.

This poster is intended as an intro to the subject. It has his name, and something that represents who he is. Ed Benguiat grew up in Brooklyn, so I used the iconic wire-work on the brooklyn bridge. Ed's name is written in Ed Script. Beguiat likes to name his typefaces after himself.

In my research on Ed Benguiat, I came across this gem of a quote, "Screw Legibility, type should be recognizable." Benguiat created logos for many films and publications. He often found that they world shy away from more decorative type for the safety of readability. When Benguiat developed a logo he made sure it was recognizable, something to be remembered. Afterall, what good is a name that everyone can read, but nobody remembers.This typeface is called Ed Interlock.

Souvenir was regarded in the same vein, in the 70's, that Comic Sans or Papyrus is regarded now. It is an older typeface that has been around since 1914, Ed Benguiat recreated it for ITC. Frank Romano once said that "There is nothing wrong with Souvenir that a complete redesign wouldn't cure." Souvenir is currently going through a sort of revival in some circles of design.

This is a comparison between Souvenir Bold and Cooper, which look similar at first glance. The caricature in the back is of Ed Benguiat, a huge Yankees fan and one who believes that you should start with the pen, then move to a computer. The caricature is by artist Chris Gardner of House Industries.

This poster actually has 2 purposes to it. First I used an item from my bathroom, and listed the ingredients, second I was asked to "break the type". So I shattered it. The typeface used throughout the poster is Ed Gothic.

This is a historical comparison of Ed Bengiat and Evangelista Torricelli. Torricelli was a Physicist and Mathematician 1608–1647. He was best known for his work in optics, improving the lenses of telescopes. I needed to find common ground between the two. Interestingly this was not that difficult. Ed Benguiat worked with PLinc. or Photo Lettering Inc for a long time, creating beautiful hand drawn type. This process involves lenses, similar to Torricelli's, to project type at larger sizes for detailed re—creation. Ed's name is written Caslon used by PLinc.

This is another historical comparison peice. Donald Jay Grout was an american musicologist. Eddie Bernart is our subject, Ed Benguiat. Mr Benguiat had dreams of being a jazz drummer, and was at one point ranked third best in the United States. He went by the psuedonym Eddie Bernart.

 

The other wrinkle in this poster was including an obscure historic event. Omugulugwombashe was the first armed conflict of the Nambian fight for freedom. I decided this poster shoul represent a concert to spread knowledge and support for Nambian freedom.

This is one of my favorites.

 

This poster was made unde the restriction that it could not involve a computer. I drew out Ed Roman, and experimented with various effects on a photocopier. This one was achived by following the scanning light as it moved, and wiggling the words "Screw Legibility" side to side. I added the "reinterptretation" of the quote and photocopied it onto a cardstock I had spray-painted off-white.

This was a second hand drawn peice, I used marker and paint. I like the roughnesss of the letters.

 

I took Ed Gothic, and I wanted it to have a constructivist quality.

This was an experiment in absurdity.

 

I looked at Ed Roman, and tried to see what it reminded me of and find a song that expressed that. The high, thin serifs reminded me of Batman. I immediately went to the 60's tv series, and took the motif as far as I could. I craeted the bat logo from broken up letters.