Les Usherwood

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Les Usherwood was born in England, studied in Kent and started his career as a lettering artist. He moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1957 and worked for various companies until he started with in 1968. The company supplied , headline (on Typositor) and (on Berthold Diatronic), mechanicals, custom lettering and notably typeface design.

Typsettra did work for many important designers and art directors. In his role as a Type Director, Usherwood help create the unique style of detailed ‘jigsaw’ layout typography typified by tightly spaced custom headline faces, long text with many run-arounds. There is a clear comparison to the work of Herb Lubalin, Ed Benguiat, and U&lc magazine.

His untimely death in 1983 at 51, at the height of his career, was a shock. The uses his name for their annual lifetime achievement award for which he was the first recipient.

  • Les Usherwood Legacy Tyepface Poster

  • Typsettra Advert "Have you taken" etc. Les Usherwood

Typeface designs[]

Les Usherwood was a prolific typeface designer creating over 200 faces for a variety uses and clients. His typefaces include Administer, Caxton (for Letraset), Flange (for Berthold), Kingsley, ITC (International Typeface Corporation) Leawood, and ITC Usherwood.

Bibliography[]

  • Macmillan, Neil. An A-Z of Type Designers. London: Laurence King, 2006
  • Warburton, Matt. Typsettra Recollections. Graphic Design Journal 6 (19XX): 2-8
  • Mason, Dennis. Les Usherwood – A Legacy. Studio Magazine, Vol. 4 No. 1 (1986): 6-9
  • Les Usherwood, a tribute. Etc. Summer, Lettraset, Canada, 1984: 3-5.
  • Taylor, Kate. "Les Usherwood: Canada’s Greatest Type Designer." Applied Arts Quarterly. Autumn 1990. 59-62, 66, 68
  • Toronto’s Design Pioneers. Communication Designers of Toronto (Cdot). Toronto: Winter 2008. 46-7

External links[]

Retrieved from ""