Germano Facetti
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Germano Facetti (May 5, 1926 – April 8, 2006) was an Italian graphic designer who headed design at Penguin Books from 1962 to 1971. He was responsible for creating some of the most iconic book covers of the 20th century.
Born in Milan he was arrested in 1943 for putting up anti-Fascist posters. He was deported to Mauthausen as a forced labourer, where he met the architect Ludovico Belgiojoso who later invited him to join his practice in Milan.
He moved to London in the early 1950s where he took evening classes in typography at the Central School of Art & Design.
By the late 1950s he was art director at Aldus Books and working as an interior designer, working briefly in Paris. It was his interior for the Poetry Bookshop in Soho that inspired the director of Penguin, Allen Lane, to invite him to join the as art director in 1960. Facetti was instrumental in redesigning the Penguin line, introducing phototypesetting, the "Marber grid", offset-litho printing and photography to their paperback covers.
Facetti also was responsible for the black cover designs of the Penguin Classics series from 1963. He recruited a number of leading designers of the day, and one of his important achievements for Penguin was to impose a consistently high standard of cover design. After leaving Penguin in 1972 Facetti briefly worked for the publishing company Mondadori in his native Italy.
Publications
Facetti collaborated with Chris Marker on the 1962 film, La Jetée. While at Penguin, Facetti wrote an account of his aims, published in 1967 and reprinted in 2007.
Death
Facetti died on April 8, 2006, aged 79.
