Aaron Burns

Aaron Burns (25 May 1922 — 16 July 1991) was an American award-winning graphic designer and educator. He is the author of Typography (Reinhold Publishing, 1960.)

Burns was born on May 25, 1922, in Passaic, New Jersey. 

He went to Passaic High School. He developed an early interest in drawing/arts in his youth and at one point considered cartooning as a career doing the student years. Following his passion, he enrolled with the Newark Evening School of Fine and Industrial Arts, in Newark, New Jersey.

During Second World War, Burns entered the U.S. Army and as an Army Infantryman, he was stationed in the rainforest somewhere in Panama, and, seeking some mental stimulation, enrolled in Brigham Young University's advertising and design correspondence course.

After the war and returning to the States, Burns finished his education and began his career in graphic arts as a graphic designer in New York City. Initially, he found no demand for his skills in the market. He even offered his services to the Lancaster Advertising agency for no salary, in exchange for an opportunity to learn the ropes. During that period, he signed up for a course in paste-ups offered to returning veterans by the Advertising Club. His first break came when he got a chance to apprentice with graphic designer Alexander Ross. Working with Ross, he developed an interest in typography.

In 1952, Burns became director of design and typography at the Composing Room, a Manhattan typography shop.

In 1960, Burns founded the International Center for the Typographic Arts (ICTA) with Swiss typographer Emil Ruder. He was also a founding member of the International Center for the Communication Arts and Sciences (ICCAS).

In 1961, he authored Typography, published by Reinhold Publishers, Inc. 

From 1955 to 1960 he taught Advanced and Experimental Typographic Design at Pratt Institute, New York.

In 1963, Burns opened his own business, Aaron Burns & Company—a division of one of New York’s then-largest and most successful typesetting houses, Rapid Typographers.

Seven years later, in 1970, Burns partnered with Herb Lubalin and Edward Rondthaler to found a type manufacturer firm named International Typeface Corporation. The firm was one of the world's first type foundries to have no history in the production of metal type. It is now a wholly-owned brand or subsidiary of Monotype Imaging. Burns was its president until it was acquired by Esselte Letraset in 1986. He then continued as its chairman until his death in 1991.

• 1983: Inducted into the New York Art Directors Hall of Fame
• 1985: Awarded the Type Directors Club (TDC) medal
• Honorary vice president of the Association Typographique Internationale

Burns died on July 16, 1991, of an AIDS-related illness, which he contracted nine years earlier by a blood transfusion that was necessary for his open heart surgery at the time. He was 69.