Tim (wed. class): Ed Benguiat Brochure

Here's the text for my typographer brochure:

He is a pilot and a jazz percussionist first and foremost. “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,” joked Edward Benguiat, giving insight into a decision that probably should be celebrated today by designers worldwide.

Benguiat was immersed in the world of design at the age of nine when his father was the display director at Bloomingdale’s. He would play with all of his father’s pens, brushes, and learned about sign painting and show card lettering. One thing led to another and now Ed Benguiat has become a key figure in Design history. He had a part in the creation of The International Typeface Corporation, the first independent type licensing company, where he has designed over 600 typefaces throughout his illustrious career. Benguiat was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame on November 2, 2000.

He has also cemented himself as the silent spokesperson in pop culture with his touch gracing the logos of The New York Times, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Ford, AT&T, and many more. Anyone who owns a computer owns typefaces designed by Benguiat. “How did I become famous? I never worked a day in my life,” says Benguiat. If Ed’s accomplishments weren’t brazen enough, he also happened to be born completely colorblind.

When the US joined World War II in 1942, Benguiat wasn’t old enough to join the military so he forged his birth certificate and enlisted into the Army. Benguiat then took to memorizing color scales to the point where he could differentiate between colors through their shades of grey to pass the vision test in order to be a pilot in the Air Corps. After passing with flying colors, he became a recon pilot taking photos behind enemy lines due to his uncanny ability to recognize shapes. One day on his way back from one of his routine recon missions, he finally figured he’d blow up a bridge or two while he was flying over them and by the end of the war, Ed Benguiat had become infamous for blowing up bridges.

After playing jazz for a little while after the war where he was voted number three drummer in America by Metronome and Downbeat magazine, Ed took advantage of the G.I. Bill and went to the Workshop School of Advertising Art to be an illustrator. He then got a job at a studio airbrushing cleavage out of advertisements. “I was responsible for taking away the cleavage, not putting it in as they do today,” Benguiat said. tOne day he stumbled upon his career as a typographer when “the person responsible for lettering got sick and the studio needed a lettering job done. I said I could do it. I figured I could do anything, until somebody told me different. I did the job, and I’ve been drawing letters ever since.” In order to memorize typefaces, Benguiat taped flashcards with typefaces on them in the bathroom.
Ed Benguiat’s favorite letter is the letter E. “From that letter you can make any letter,” explained Benguiat, but it also happens to be his least favorite letter. When computers started revolutionizing the culture of design, Ed Benguiat kept it old school and mastered the art of using a copy machine and razorblade as his Photoshop. A quick glance at words and he can tell the difference between hairline width differences. “Please watch this, this is your computers cut and paste,” explains Benguiat as he kerns words and adjusts weights to letters armed with only a razor and tape. He then can skillfully turn the page ever so slightly while copies are being made on the copy machine to create bodacious curves to his type. Even so, he isn’t against the use of computers and he trusts young designers to come up with something new and alive to keep pushing design forward.

Ed Benguiat continues to teach as the School of Visual Art to this day, parting priceless knowledge and stories to his students while at the same time cracking everyone up and enjoying himself. He has never missed a class in 30 years and is still on top of the game, having recently submitted a redesign for Hershey’s. “Aim for the target. And if on the way you win the lottery, then forget about that shit,” replied Benguiat when asked for parting words. Ed is just a design rock star unassumingly strolling slowly through the halls of school with his trademark mustache and weathered New York Yankee’s baseball cap, a little pin with the initials QB in honor of his WWII battalion pinned on top of the stitched NY.