OMG - the Herb Lubalin Study Center!
OMG - I was in heaven!
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Herb Lubalin Study Center at the Cooper Union in NYC. At the end of our most recent visit, my husband and I sauntered over and walked into the building. A very kind security person told us it was located downstairs but wasn't sure anyone was in at the moment, so he would try and call.
What luck! Laura (Laura Mircik-Sellers) was in and invited us into the center for a short time. An hour plus later we were still there chatting about everything typography. Although the center is small, it is packed with gems: real books, real sketches, endless internet links - and Laura - an amazingly knowledgeable individual. Laura explained how the center worked.
Herb Lubalin is one of my graphic idols and to this day I am inspired by his work and his process. Although I do not live close by I will regularly make use of this center and highly recommend that you do the same.
Case in point, when leaving from the center that day, having seen treasures that just tickled my typographer’s fancy, I decided to throw out a specific query. I have been trying for over ten years to solve a particular mystery: the location of a a particular typeface. I knew the designer’s name. I had gone to a talk given by him where I saw and heard all about his unusually designed typeface and its’ ‘complete’ solution. But I could never find it, sooo frustrating.
I wanted to take advantage of the center and Laura's expertise. All I was able to give Laura was the designer’s name, Matthew Carter and what I thought was the name of the typeface - SNAP. I described to Laura the uncommon solution Mr. Carter solved by creating a typeface that allowed for ‘snap on and off’ serifs to be utilized when and how the designer decided and which individual letterform was needed, which of the available serifs to apply.
Within a couple of days, and with the help of her associate, Sacha Tochilovsky, they got back to me. I was so excited. It was called WALKER. The design was commissioned by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN., and the task to design a new identity was given to Matthew Carter in 1994. From a discussion with the design director of the center, Laurie Haycock Makela, it was considered that a typeface could be an identity, it could be a font rather than a logo. Mr. Carter was inspired, and then he solved the problem with the ‘snap on/snap off’ solution, brilliant! see image below.
Well I could go on and on, but I shall simply finish with a link to the Herb Lubalin Study Center at the Cooper Union in NYC - you must visit it, you must use it and you must promote it, www.lubalincenter.cooper.edu/