Shortly after Lubalin, Burns & Co was formed, Lubalin, Burns Affiliates, Ltd was also launched. Burns – the consummate promoter and businessman – figured that if his exclusive typesetting company could be successful in New York, it would be equally so in other large cities. Their company, cleverly called Lubalin, Burns & Co, also offered several typeface designs created by Lubalin and his staff that could be purchased nowhere else among them Avant Garde Gothic. In 1970 Burns and Herb Lubalin joined forces to sell phototypesetting, lettering and typographic design services to New York advertising agencies and design studios. While Aaron Burns & Co was a good moneymaker Burns still longed to have his own company. Jobs that were sent to Aaron Burns & Co received special attention under the watchful typographic eye of Burns – and were billed at a premium for the service. One of his first companies, Aaron Burns & Co., was actually a division of one of New York’s then largest and most successful typesetting houses. ITC began as Lubalin, Burns & Co and called itself “the first typo-graphics agency.” Aaron Burns, Lubalin’s partner in the company, was one of the most successful type salespersons and marketers of the 1960s. The ethos driving International Typeface Corporation’s formation is as profound as the typefaces they produce: Other watershed revivals include the handsome ITC Garamond and robust ITC Franklin Gothic families.
Some of ITC’s most esteemed designs include the ITC Avant Garde Gothic family – a typeface designed by Tom Carnase based upon Herb Lubalin’s logo for Avant Garde magazine – as well as the ITC Berkeley Oldstyle design, a revival of Fredric Goudy’s serifed custom typeface for the University of California Press at Berkley. The ITC® Library – comprised of more than 1,650 designs – features the work of world-class typeface designers.
By far, the most influential and successful type foundry of the 1970s and well into the 1980s was International Typeface Corporation.įor nearly four decades, ITC has designed and marketed typefaces to creative professionals.