Promote a Graphic Designer

Paul Rand

 

Born - August 15, 1914

           Brooklyn, New York 

           United States

Died - November 26, 1996 (aged 82)

           Norwalk, Connecticut

           United States

Paul Rand was an American graphic designer, who is best known for creating corporate designs such as the logos for ABC and Steve Job's NeXT, he was also one of the first commercial designers who embraced the International Typographic Style also known as the Swiss Style.


Before his career began Paul Rand started designing at a very young age by painting signs for his father’s store and at school events. He attended Manhattan’s Harren High School while also taking night classes at Pratt Institute as his father did not believe that art could be a liveable option. Though he studied at Pratt and two other institutes in New York he was known largely as a self taught designer learning from European magazines.

Sparkle and Spin (1957)

The Stork Club Bar Book (1946)

Paul Rand has a vast range of work that he has accumulated throughout his career ranging from book covers, posters, packaging and corporate logos. Some of his well known work includes the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) logo which he designed in 1962, the logo for International Business Machines (IBM) in 1956 and the NeXT logo for Steve Job’s computer company.

Throughout his career he would have large staff working with him but would continue doing a vast majority of the the design work as he was recluse in his creative process. He was also very interested in producing books that would highlight his philosophies.

Major influences were art philosophers such as Roger Fry, Alfred North Whitehead and John Dewey, the later being one of the most influential appeal of Art as Experience as he drew lines from Dewey's philosophy for his ground breaking book Thoughts on Design. 

With the rise of postmodernist theory and aesthetic in design, Rand caused criticism during his later career as he increasingly became more agitated with this development. Resigned his teaching position at Yale to protest the appointment of a postmodern and femist designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville which he convinces one of his colleagues, Armin Hofmann to do the same.

He also received accusations from others work such as From Lascaux to Brooklyn (1996) which accused him of being "reactionary and hostile to new ideas about design." Rand's later ideas were supported by Steven Heller calling him "an enemy of mediocrity, a radical modernist" while others such as Favermann considers his ideas one of " a reactionary, angry old man." Still Rand's theory contribution is considered intrinsic to the development.

Eye-Bee-M (1981)

NeXT Computers (1986)

All though his corporate identities were the more well known designs that Rand contributed some which are still being used to this day, I find myself more drawn to his designs that he created for his collection of books that he worked on with his wife Ann Rand. I find that this style is more playful and represent a more approachable feel, with the paper cut out and textured appearance of his covers that are completely different from what he presents with his corporate designs which are much cleaner and structured which shows two different sides to his design style. Even with two different styles based on the type of work there are still similarities that can be seen in his corporate designs with the use of bold solid colours and the lively use of icon illustrations.

Reference

http://www.paul-rand.com/
http://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18042341/