VGC Typeface Design Competition Announcement
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Nick Sherman and tagged with “pistilliroman”. License: CC BY-NC-SA.
Announcement for a national typeface design competition sponsored by Visual Graphics Corporation.
Herb Lubalin designed the cover/poster (the first use of Pistilli Roman), Aaron Burns designed the rest.
Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design & Typography at Cooper Union; East Village, Manhattan
License: All Rights Reserved.
License: All Rights Reserved.
License: All Rights Reserved.
4 Comments on “VGC Typeface Design Competition Announcement”
Note that the decorative “foxtail” numerals shown here for Pistilli Roman are the oldstyle figures available in addition to the ball-terminaled lining figures found in the specimen that appeared a year later.
See also the announcement of the competition as shown in Graphis No. 121, also designed by Herb Lubalin and featuring a more extensive glyph set. See also how the accents and punctuation from this showing were reused on the cover of a Harry Volk booklet.
The fifteen winning designs were:
Basilea
Andrich Minerva Italic
Jana
Andrich Minerva
Arnholm Sans Medium
Baker Signet Davida Bold
Emphasis
Informal Gothic
Jay Gothic Bold
Lincoln Gothic
Nevison Casual Script
Scotford Uncial
Solitaire
Stettler
The top three were the top winners. They were publicized in the December 1965 issue of Advertising & Sales Promotion.
On Flickr, Nick has some pics of a booklet showing the “fifteen award winning type face designs”.
Stephen has more pics from that booklet:
The winners were announced already in April 1965, in The American Press. The article mentions that VGC handed out cash prizes ($1,000 for 1st, $500 for 2nd, $250 for 3rd, and $100 each for the other twelve), plus royalty contracts for all fifteen winners. According to OH no’s research, though, Louis Minott received $1,000 for his Davida, but no royalties.