Paul Rand was one of America’s, and the world’s, greatest graphic designers, who had a specialty for corporate logos. He was born Peretz Rosenbaum on August 15, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York to a father who was a very strict Orthodox Jew. Rand’s artistic talent began as a child when he would make signs for his father’s grocery store and flyers for school events. His father did not believe Rand was capable of succeeding in the art industry, so he limited his son to taking only night classes at the Pratt Institute. He attended Pratt from 1929 – 1932 then moved on to the Art Students League from 1933 – 1934.
Early on in his career, Paul Rand did many small designs that did not have much significance, but really helped him to work his way up. His first job was part-time while he was still attending classes and it was to create various stock images for a company that sold them different publications. While building up a nice collection of designs, Rand decided that he needed to change his name for two reasons. The first reason was because he thought his name had a strong Jewish identity attached to it and the second reason was to shorten it. He shortened Peretz to Paul and took the last name, Rand, from one of his uncles. Morris Wyszogrod, a friend of Rand said, “…he figured that Paul Rand, four letters here, four letter there, would create a nice symbol. So he became Paul Rand” (Wikipedia).
In 1940, Rand designed one of his first influential and emotional driven pieces. It was for the December 1940 cover of the magazine Direction. Rand used barbed wire that depicted two things: First, it made it seem as if it was a gift wrapped in barbed wire and second, it was used to look like a crucifix. Rand himself stated that it “…is significant that the crucifix, aside from religious implications, is a demonstration of pure plastic form as well…a perfect union of the aggressive vertical (male) and the passive horizontal (female)” (paul-rand.com). Rand never got paid for the covers he designed for Direction magazine, but he wanted to have full artistic freedom instead. Lazlo Moholy-Nagy stated, “Among these young Americans it seems to be that Paul Rand is one of the best and most capable” (paul-rand.com).
As Rand’s reputation and name grew, the jobs he was working on became bigger and bigger. In 1936, Apparel Arts magazine gave him the task of setting the layout for their anniversary issue and “his remarkable talent for transforming mundane photographs into dynamic compositions” gave him the opportunity for his first full-time job. At first, he did not feel that he was ready to take on such a position and continued on learning for another year. He then accepted the job when he was twenty-three.
Paul Rand is best known for the corporate identities and logos that he designed throughout his life. Many of these designs are still used today, including, IBM, ABC, Westinghouse and UPS. Besides being such a talented designer, Rand was exceptional at being a businessman and selling his ideas to companies. Fellow graphic designer Louis Danziger said, “He almost singlehandedly convinced business that design was an effective tool…Anyone designing in the 1950s and 1960s owed much to Rand, who largely made it possible for us to work” (paul-rand.com). Many people and critics believe that Rand’s designs were very simple and minimal and that maybe he did not deserve as much credit and praise as he was receiving at the time. To defend himself, Rand stated, “…ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original and exciting” (paul-rand.com). He proved all of the critics wrong when he designed one of his most famous corporate identities in 1956. In this year, Rand designed the logo for IBM and made slight modifications to it for the next fifteen years or so. The company has been using his 1972 version ever since. For IBM, he also designed the well-known Eye-Bee-M poster. Rand also created the logo for ABC, which really proves that simplicity can go far.
One of Rand’s most satisfied clients was Steve Jobs, who later became the CEO of Apple Computers. At the time, Jobs was working for NeXT Computer and worked with Rand to create their corporate identity. Jobs was incredibly pleased with what Rand created and even said at the time that he is “…the greatest living graphic designer” (paul-rand.com).
There were some critics who did not appreciate the design that Paul Rand did, not just because they thought it was minimalistic and not very creative, but also because he was accused of being “…reactionary and hostile to new ideas about design” (paul-rand.com). Other critics did appreciate the work that Rand was producing and of Rand himself, calling him, “…an enemy of mediocrity, a radical modernist” and that “Rand’s contribution to modern graphic design theory in total is widely considered intrinsic to the profession’s development” (paul-rand.com).
Paul Rand was one of the most influential and experimental designers of his time and his work is still influencing designers today. His corporate identities and logos is what skyrocketed his career and how he made a name for himself. He did not do things by the book and always tried to find new and exciting ways to make a design, despite some negative feedback and criticism. Paul Rand never stopped working and created designs until the day he died on November 26, 1996 when he was 82 years old.
Paul Rand. 9 May 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_rand
Paul Rand. http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Paul-Rand/
