“Herb Lubalin and Karl Gerstner“ by Alexander Tochilovsky at the San Francisco Public Library

Surveying Herb Lubalin and Karl Gerstner provides typographer Alexander Tochilovsky case studies for “Design History as a Model for Contemporary Practice.“ In this lecture at the San Francisco Main Library, he examines “Does design history really impact what designers do or make today? Should it? My answer is an emphatic yes—just not in the way we’ve been taught in design schools. This lecture will closely analyze examples of work by designers, such as Herb Lubalin and Karl Gerstner, through the lens of their relevance to contemporary practice. Design history is rich with examples of what one can make, but it also has lessons on how to be a designer. The lecture will be framed from my perspective as a curator of a design archive, as an educator, a historian, typographer, and most importantly, as a graphic designer.“ Alexander Tochilovsky has nearly 20 years of professional design experience, and 10 years experience teaching typography. He graduated with a BFA from The Cooper Union, and holds an MFA from Cranb