Eros, Fact and Avant Garde


The collaboration of Ralph Ginzburg and Herb Lubalin, Fact, Eros and Avant Garde were culturally relevant publications that pushed many of the ideas of 1960s society. Fact and Eros both suffered relatively short careers while still managing to have significant cultural impacts. Avant Garde, on the other hand was quite successful and tenured a career that lasted a slightly longer period of 3 years and 16 issues between 1968 and 1971. All three publications provided Lubalin with a development ground to practice his emerging style of typography and design which influenced much of the design community during the 1960s and 70s.

Eros
The first of Ginzburg and Lubalin's three productions, Eros was a quarterly hardbound publication filled with articles and photo-essays relating to the topics of love and sex. During the radical 1960s the publication was received with both positive and negative reviews and Ginzburg was indicted under federal obscenity laws for the publication of the fourth issue. The combination of the high cost of the hardbound publication and the legal fees incurred during Ginzburg's court case cause the magazine to close down.

Fact
Fact magazine was a similar venture by the two that was equally controversial, although it shifted the subject matter from sex to culture and politics. The magazine was sued by presidential candidate Barry Goldwater for their publication of an article that said Goldwater was psychologically unfit to be president of the United States. The punitive damages of the case caused the magazine to cease publication.

Avant Garde
The most notable of the three, Avant Garde was reminiscent of Eros in its hardbound format and controversial content. The magazine combined aspects of both Fact and Eros and published articles and imagery that were often sexual, critical of the American government and radically different than traditional publications. While there was no direct legal actions brought against Avant Garde it was forced to shut down when Ginzburg went to prison for the Eros scandal.