Paul Rand By, Nicole Mercado

Paul Rand By, Nicole Mercado

Paul Rand There are many amazing and talented graphic designers around the world but one in particular is an astounding and exceptional graphic designer in my eyes. His name is Paul Rand, one of the world s most famous graphic designers. A painter, lecturer, industrial designer, author, instructor and advertising artist who draws his knowledge and creativeness from the resources of this country. He is an idealist and a realist, using the language of the poet and businessman. He thinks in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems but his fantasy is boundless. Paul Rand (Peretz Rosenbaum) was born on August 15, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. He was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, Westinghouse, ABC, and Steve Jobs NeXT. He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. One

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He embraced design at a very young age, painting signs for his father s grocery store as well as for school events. Rand s father did not believe art could provide his son with a sufficient income, so he required his son to attend Manhattan s Harren High School while taking night classes at the Pratt Institute, from 1929-1932. Though neither of these schools offered Rand much stimulation. Despite studying at Pratt and other institutions in the New York area including Parsons School of Design in 1932 and the Art Students League in 1933 with fellow student George Grosz, a German artist. Rand was by and largely self-taught as a designer, learning about the works of Cassandre and Moholy-Nagy from European magazines such as [Gebrauchsgraphik]. His career began with humble assignments, starting with his first professional part-time job in 1934 as an illustrator for Metro Associated Services, a map and creating stock images advertising that supplied graphics to various newspapers and magazines. Between his class assignments and his work, Rand was able to amass a fairly large portfolio, largely influenced by the German advertising style Sachplakat (ornamental poster) as well as the works of Gustav Jensen. It provided him with the necessary graphic design techniques experience, and exposed him to the essential tricks of the trade. Nevertheless, he was never satisfied doing mediocre work, and was always looking for ways to move up. Three

He constantly seeked and contacted advice from designers he read about in trade magazines. In 1935 Rand worked as a design assistant at the George Switzer Studio, A self- study program in all the fine distinction of the graphic design arts supplemented his formal training in fine art. This blend of formal and informal training provided him with a firm foundation for his exciting inspirational work for business and industry. He also worked as a freelance designer at Glass Packer magazine. According to PaulRand.com It was at around this time that he decided to camouflage (and abbreviate) the overtly Jewish identity/ legal name Peretz Rosenbaum, and shortening his forename to Paul and taking Rand from an uncle to form his new surname. Morris Wyszogrod, a friend and associate of Rand, noted, he figured that Paul Rand, four letters here, four letters there, would create a nice symbol. So he became Paul Rand. Peter Behrens notes the importance of this new title: Rand s new persona, which served as the brand name for his many accomplishments, was the first corporate identity he created, and it may also eventually prove to be the most enduring. Indeed, Rand was rapidly moving into the forefront of his profession. In his early twenties, the year 1936 he was given the job of setting the page layout for an Apparel Arts magazine anniversary issue. Rand first made a name for himself as an editorial designer, doing work for magazines such as Esquire and Direction. His Four

remarkable talent for transforming mundane photographs into dynamic compositions, gave editorial weight to the page earned Rand a full-time job, as well as an offer to take over as art director for the Esquire-Coronet magazines in 1941. Initially, Rand refused this offer, claiming that he was not yet at the level the job required, but a year later he decided to go ahead with it, taking over responsibility for Esquire s fashion pages at the young age of twenty-three, also previously in 1938 he created the Esquire trademark. In 1939 Rand also accomplished many things, such as he was an instructor at the New York Laboratory School, he designed the New York World s Fair brochure, an insert to PM Magazine and later designed the article for PM Magazine, their first published article about work. At Direction, the cover art for the magazines proved to be an important step in the development of the Paul Rand look that was not as yet fully developed. He was producing work that began to garner international acclaim, notably his designs on the covers of Direction magazine, which Rand produced for no fee in exchange for full artistic freedom. Among the accolades Rand received were those of Moholy-Nagy: The December 1940 cover, which used barbed wire to present the magazine as both a war-torn gift and a crucifix, is indicative of the artistic freedom Rand Five

Some of Rand s Magazine Covers Glass Packer: Magazine Cover January 1936 issue Apparel Arts: Magazine Cover July/ August 1938 issue Direction: Magazine Cover November/ December 1938 issue Six Direction: Magazine Cover April 1940 issue

enjoyed at Direction; in Thoughts on Design Rand notes that it is significant that the crucifix, aside from its religious implications, is a demonstration of pure plastic form as a perfect union of the aggressive vertical (male) and the passive horizontal (female). In ways such as this, Rand was experimenting with the introduction of themes normally found in the high arts into his new graphic design, further advancing his life-long goal of bridging the gap between his profession and that of Europe s modernist masters. He even worked for free in some cases in turn for creative freedom, and as a result his style became known in the design community. Rand s popularity really grew as an art director for the William H. Weintraub Advertising agency in New York, where he worked from 1941-1954. Some clients include: Coronet Brandy, El Producto Cigar Company, Disney Hats, Dubonnet, Stafford Fabrics, Ohrbach s Department Store, Dunhill Clothiers, Kaufman Department Store, Olivetti and Architectural Forum. He also created the first book jacket: The Cubist Painters by Guillaume Apollinaire. In 1941 Rand worked on 16 Seven

letter pressed pages of articles for AD Magazine, written by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Rand designed the perfect-bound 5.5 x 7.75 soft cover book decorated in stiff wrappers with an original two-color offset wraparound cover design. It stands out as a true icon of Modern American Graphic Design. The Rand section features an original foreword by Laszlo Moholy- Nagy of Chicago s Institute of Design. This was the first crossreferencing of these two modern masters. The cover in my eyes is just simply beautiful, it is plain looking but the way the Rand has formatted the letters in a typographical way makes the piece look interesting. It look very modern and fresh, this is a piece that I would like to own just because the cover is so fascinating. Also in between that time Rand had achieved many high accomplishments such as winning the award for House design voted one of ten best in America in 1953. In 1954 Rand pieces were featured in the Contemporary Art Museum, located in Boston Massachusetts and was Voted the award of: One of the Ten Best Art Directors by New York Art Directors Club, which is one of the most concentrated groups of creative talent in the world, and is a gathering place for leaders in visual communication. In my eyes it is such an honor to be nominated in that category oh high talented designers and achievers, even though Rand did not win it was still an honor and also he received an honorary degree from Tama University, Tokyo. Eight

Rand s 1st book jacket design- The Cubist Painters by Guillaume Apollinaire 5.5 x 7.75 soft cover AD magazine, written by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Architectural Forum campaign advertisements 1945 Nine

In the year 1955 and above Rand s career has taken off he designed the book covers for vintage book and random house publishers. His book covers were sometimes just visual elements, which were determined by the content of the book (Heller). Rand used mostly serif and san serif typefaces and his own handwriting for the Titles of books the books and on the covers he incorporated illustrations and antique typefaces that were well suited to the entire look and feel of the cover. His covers were visually appealing and were typographically dense but they provided a friendly feel for readers to be interested in reading the entire book. They were visually appealing to many people and drew the viewers in, which a great strategy, not that that was Rand s intention, but it worked and even today in this genre when designing a book Ten

cover, the designer needs to think about the audience and what will grab their attention. In the year 1956 Rand became a consultant for the: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) where he would design one of the most memorable brands in history, such as designing the companies trademark/ logo and would continue to work with them until the year 1991. Also in the year of 1956 Rand and his wife Ann Rand teamed up to create an illustrated children s book titled I Know A lot of Things, designed by Rand and authored by his wife, It was the first of four books that were later created called Sparkle and Spin, Little 1, Listen! Listen!. Rand was a born children s illustrator. He not only had a sixth sense for what visually excited a children s interest, he honestly enjoyed making the images (Heller) The children s books Rand and his wife created were vey adorable. The use of color, shapes and typography all worked well with one another. Every piece of artwork Rand created was clever, for example on the cover of the book Sparkle and Spin Rand has used all of the elements that a great designer can do. He has used color, shapes and text all in a unique way, the text is not positioned in the average straight left to right way, it is slanted making the piece more interesting. The use of colors and within the shapes formed in other shapes and the background isn t Eleven

Some of Rand s Book Covers A Fine Frenzy: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959 Wagner as a man and artist: Vintage Books/Random House, 1962 Art and Illusion: Pantheon Books, 1956 Twelve

the average white color it is black, all things that make the piece unique. Later in the Year of 1956-1959 Rand begins designing book covers for Bollingren Series and Pantheon Books, his works was featured in an exhibition at the AIGA Gallery in New York and at the Art Directors Club of Tokyo, also he designed the trademark for Colorforms and Consolidated Cigar Corporation, he even designed the Book and book jacket for Paul Rand: His Works from 1946 to 1958. The 1960 are a time when logo history will be created and forever remembered. Over the course of his career Rand would design some of the most memorable brands in history, including Trademarks/ logos for Thirteen

Paul Rand & Ann Rand Children s Books Paul Rand- designer and Illustrator Author- Ann Rand I know a lot of Things 1956 Sparkle and Spin 1957 Little 1 1962 Listen! Listen! 1970 Fourteen

Westinghouse, UPS, ABC, and the IBM redesign. He almost single- handedly convinced the business world that design was an effective tool - Louis Danziger. In 1960 Rand designed the trademark for Westinghouse, a block W, the points of which were topped with threw dark circles, suggesting the look of an electronic board in a circle with a bold, lozenge- shaped bar underneath. In 1961 the famous United Parcel Services (UPS) logo had be created. He streamlined the contours, introduced balanced gothic lower letters and placed an outline of the package with a bow on the top of the shield as sort of a crown. (Heller) The entire look and design of the UPS trademark is really simple yet effective, the bow on the top is a great touch because it gives the look of a present, which is perfect because the function of the company is to deliver packages throughout the country that are too Fifteen

big to be mailed through direct mail, which may sometimes be a gift that one is receiving. A year later in 1962 Rand was commissioned to develop the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) trademark. A logo that the letters ABC were to be lower case in a gothic typeface similar to Futura colored in white. Enclosed in a black filled circle. This logo was soon to be one of the most famous logos seen around the world and hasn t been changed from then to now in the year 2010. That is how strong of a logo Rand has created. Also in the same year the redesign of the IBM logo was created from its previous look in 1956 to an 8-bar & 13-bar horizontal variation look within the words letters IBM, which also has become a well, know logo around the world and hasn t changed since Rand developed it. In 1966 Honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts with the AIGA gold medal, Rand designed and proposed a new logo redesign for Ford Motor Company, but was rejected by Henry Ford but still to this day it can be seen his books containing Rand s work s. He also designed the DADA book jacket in 1967. Years after the 60 s a time after the creation of most of Rand s famous logo designs he also designed other great logos such as The Limited, NEXT, Hub TV and many others. He was also awarded the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame Sixteen

Logos Log os Seventeen

IBM Logo 1956 IBM redesign 1962 Westinghouse Logo 1960 UPS Logo 1961 abc Logo 1962 Eighteen

in 1972 which I believe is well deserved his timeline of works of art is tremendous and really good, I would love to one day own a piece of his works of art. In the years to follow he continued to create great pieces such as posters and trademarks for other companies and and even became an author. Rand was part of a movement in the 1940 s and 50 s in which American designer s were coming up with original styles. He was a major figure in this change that had a focus on freeform layouts that were much less structured than prominent European design. Rand used collage, photography, artwork and unique use of type to engage his audience. When viewing a Rand ad, a viewer is challenged to think, interact, and interpret it. Using clever, fun, different and risky approaches to the use of shapes, space, and contrast, Rand created a unique user experience. He always remembered that function stood above form. He did not aim at creating beautiful magazines, contrast, Rand created a unique user experience. He always Nineteen

remembered that function stood above form. He did not aim at creating beautiful magazines, advertisements and packages for the pure visual benefit. He stated that Design was the synthesis of form and content, without content there is no form and without form there is no content (Tacouin). Even after his death on November 26th, 1996, Paul Rand remains one of the most famous graphic designers in the world. He was truly the genius of logo design, his logos are so simple but so timeless. What I would ve loved to see is a logo design process of some of the Rand s classic logos, starting from his sketches and ending with the final choices. For our generation today, he has left behind a legacy, To this day Paul Rand s ideas about art, design, and culture are expressed through practice and theory. Because According to the Art Directors Club. Rand has kept and nourished the faith, we are that much richer. Design can communicate that much more because of his additions to our visual language. History, it was observed earlier, manages to provide us with benefactions and Paul Rand is one of those special gifts to our time. Twenty

Works Cited All about Designer Paul Rand. Logo Design Love. Web. <http://www.logodesignlove.com/all-about-paul-rand>. Art Directors Club / 1972 Hall of Fame. Art Directors Club / Home. Web. <http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/ hof/1972/?id=300>. Heller, Steven. Paul Rand. London: Phaidon, 1999. Print. Nunoo-Quarcoo, Franc. Paul Rand: Modernist Design. 2003. Print. Paul Rand: Modernist Design. AIGA Design Archives. Web. <http://designarchives.aiga.org/#/entries/+id:712/_/ detail/relevance/asc/0/7/712/paul-rand-modernist-design/5>. Paul Rand. Perf. Paul Rand. Youtube. Tacouin. Web. <http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yojts0tpco>. Paul-Rand.com :: Biography. Paul-Rand.com :: American Modernist :: 1914-1996. Web. <http://www.paul-rand. com/site/biography/>. Rand, Paul. Paul Rand, A Designer s Art. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. Print. Twenty One