Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase based their 1970 design of ITC Avant Garde Gothic on Lubalin’s logo for Avant Garde Magazine. The condensed fonts were designed for the International Typeface Corporation in 1974 by Ed Benguiat. ITC Avant Garde Gothic is a geometric sans serif type, that is, the basic shapes were made with a compass and T-square; the design is reminiscent of the work from the 1920s German Bauhaus movement.

Letterforms built of circles and clean lines are highly effective for headlines and short texts. The condensed faces have the same modern look, while retaining legibility in lengthier texts.