Ed Benguiat

Who is Ed Benguiat?

Ed Benguiat is an American typographer. He has crafted over 600 typefaces including Tiffany, Bookman, Panache, Edwardian Script, and the self-titled typefaces Benguiat and Benguiat Gothic. He also designed logotypes for The New York Times, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, the original Planet of the Apes film, Super Fly and countless others.

From TYPO: "He is also known for his designs or redesigns of the logotypes for The New York Times, Esquire, Coke, McCall’s, Ford, Reader’s Digest, Photography, Look, Sports Illustrated, The Star Ledger, The San Diego Tribune, AT&T, A&E, Estee Lauder, New York Magazine ...the list goes on and on. You name it, he’s done it."

Benguiat grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He was once a very prominent jazz percussionist playing in several big bands with the likes of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. In an interview Benguait stated this of his chosen career as a designer: "I’m really a musician, a jazz percussionist. 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."