Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography

Opened in 1985, the Study Center was created in order to preserve an unprecedented resource: Herb Lubalin’s vast collection of work. Its goal was to provide the design community with a means to honor Lubalin and to study his innovative work. Herb Lubalin (1918–1981) is best known for his wildly illustrative typography and his groundbreaking work for the magazines Avant Garde, Eros, and Fact. The Study Center’s core collection includes an extensive archive of his work, including drawings, promotional, editorial and advertising design, typeface design, posters, logos, and other materials dating from 1939 to 1981. The collection also includes work by other eminent designers including Otl Aicher, Anthon Beeke, Lester Beall, Will Burtin, Lou Dorfsman, Karl Gerstner, Tibor Kalman, Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, The Push Pin Studios, Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson, Massimo Vignelli, and many more. There is also a library of books and magazines about design and typography, an extensive collection of posters, myriad type specimen books, and pamphlets within the archive. The overall scope of the collection is not defined by fame or canon and as such is quite varied and inclusive. The collection is roughly 50,000+ items of design ephemera spanning roughly 130 years and six continents.