January 23–May 8, 2014 El Paso Museum of Art
orn and raised in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish Orthodox family, Peretz Rosenabum, later known as Paul Rand, evolved into one of the most
influential American graphic artists in the world. His
philosophies and ideologies on the elements of design became revered in the fields of advertising and graphic design, and are
still in use today. His sustained career garnered him international recognition and a following of prominent designers. Rand
displayed a profound interest for art and design starting at an
early age by painting various signs for his father’s grocery store,
“Design is so simple, that’s why it’s so complicated”
along with signs for school related events. Despite claiming to be a self-taught designer, Rand received an artistic education at Pratt Institute (1929–1932), Parsons (1932–1933), and the
Art Students League (1933–1934). Additionally, The works of Cassandre and Moholy-Nagy also played an important role
in Rand’s professional and creative development along with European magazine Gebrauchsgraphik.
Moreover, Paul Rand is recognized as having established
the International Typographic Style, or Swiss Style, of page
layout in the United States. This particular style of the 1950s
emphasizes cleanliness, simplicity, readability and objectivity. Paul Rand developed his own aesthetic, while pushing the
creative boundaries commercial art faced at the time. Rand’s unique aesthetic is characterized by his visual inventiveness
though simplicity. His ability to transform space, color, shape, and line in a playful manner, are reflected in his timeless and
effective designs. The effective use of contrast and unexpected combination of elements are characteristics that prevail in his
work. To achieve such effectiveness and innovation, Rand looked at each project as a problem and tried to generate a compelling solution. Overall, his simplicity disciplines his compositions of
modernist minimalist designs that evolved into a trademark of
his own aesthetic and personal mark. Although he is most known and recognized for his corporate logos, his unique talent and creativity is also evident in other works including book cover Left: Photograph of Paul Rand by Simpson Kalisher, 1995.
designs, posters, magazine covers and print advertisements.
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EARLY CAREER Rand’s very first design was the creation of “Paul Rand,” to
promising young influence on American graphic design”. Rand
early work as a young designer is what began his remarkable
Creating designs without pay allowed Rand to have full artistic
which he changed his name from Peretz Rosenbaum. Rand’s
reputation and publicized his talent. Starting from the bottom of the ladder, Rand engaged in commercial art by creating stock
images to be used by newspapers and magazines. In addition,
also designed various non-paid covers for Direction magazine.
freedom and, as a consequence led him to explore and push his ideologies and creativity.
Rand later worked as a page layout designer for Apparel Arts
One of Rand’s most popular covers for Direction was the
elements of photography and combine them with other elements
then-ongoing World War II. The small red dots imply ambiguity
magazine, a fashion magazine for men. Rand would take regular
to create compelling compositions. Eventually, Rand’s admirable talent acquired him a full time job as an art director for Esquire
magazine at age 23. Although a challenge for Rand, this position enabled him to continue exploring and pushing his creative freedom. Furthermore, at only age 24, a leading American
graphic arts magazine, PM, referred to Rand as the “most
December, 1940 issue which depicted a representation of the and symbolize blood, along with wire substituting for what would be a ribbon on a package. In addition, Rand’s first
cover for Direction symbolized Nazi Germany’s downfall of
Czechoslovakia. In this particular cover, Rand managed to create a three-dimensional perspective, by using photography and
cutouts, to imply Germany’s situation, through abstract design.
Direction, Cover, December 1940
Direction, Cover, November/December 1938
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Direction, Cover, April 1940
Coronet Brandy, Trademark, 1941
El Producto, Trademark, 1952W
COMMERCIAL SUCCESS At age 27, William Weintraub, an Esquire-Cornet partner, left the company and hired Rand as the art director of the Weintraub Agency. Rand was not the typical art director and his work was different then that of the time. He developed the majority of the ideas, and did the work himself. He typically used Futura over other common calligraphic fonts, and moreover, he always signed his work to publicize himself. Ads for El Producto, Coronet, and Dubonnet, display Rand’s prominent style. These ads often contained sketchy drawings along with visual puns making them Dubonnet, Advertisement, 1943–1954
unique and usually humorous. Rand developed an identity for these advertisements, creating a distinct illustrative feature or character for each product, which eventually evolved into iconic marks of the brand itself.
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CORPORATE IDENTITIES Westinghouse, Logo, 1960
After World War II had ended, America experienced a period of economic prosperity, which generated an uprising in business corporations, and Rand’s career shifted. In the 1950s, Rand transitioned from commercial art to designing corporate logos. Rand is mainly known for his corporate logo designs, and the vast majority are still seen and used today. His corporate identity designs include IBM, ABC, Cummins Engine, Westinghouse, and UPS, among others. His most famous, and most recognized corporate logo to this day is his IBM logo. In 1956, Rand generated the IBM logo used today, along with various packaging and marketing materials highlighting the company’s corporate
NeXT, Logo, 1986
identity. One of Rand’s contributions to IBM, was the design of the eye-bee-em rebus designed in the late 1980s. In addition to the IBM logo, in 1986, Steve Jobs asked Rand to create a new brand identity for a computer company. Rand generated the NeXT logo, which caused Jobs to see Rand as the “greatest living graphic designer.”
UPS, Logo, 1990
ABC, Logo, 1962
IBM, Logo, 1962 Left: Eye, BEE, M, Poster, 1981
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Listen! Listen!, Book Jacket, 1970
From Lascaux to Brooklyn, Book Jacket, 1985
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Little 1, Book Jacket, 1962
Thoughts on Design, Book Jacket, 1946
AUTHOR AND EDUCATOR Rand also designed a number of book covers, along with children’s books with his second wife, Ann. These included I Know a Lot of Things (1956), followed by Sparkle and Spin (1957), Little 1 (1962), and Listen! Listen! (1970). Although the design elements that prevail in these children’s books are very similar to Rand’s previous work, they were geared toward a young target audience with which Rand had not yet engaged. Sparkle and Spin was selected as one of The New York Times’ ten best Sparkle and Spin, Book Jacket, 1957
illustrated books of the year in 1957, and it won many other awards. All of the books he designed with his wife embodied Rand’s minimalism and humorous take on design. Like all of his work, they became iconic and impacted popular culture. In 1984 Rand became an author with Thoughts on Design. He went on to write and design an additional thirteen books and essays, including Paul Rand: A Designer’s Art, and From Lascaux to Brooklyn, which was published right before he died of cancer in 1996. Rand not only shared his philosophy and knowledge of design through the books and essays that he published, but he was also an esteemed instructor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1956 to 1969, and then again in 1974.
I Know a Lot of Things, Book Jacket, 1956
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LEGACY As a result of Rand’s incredible talent and deceptively simple designs, many designers are still inspired by his work. Today one can see the influence of Rand’s work and ideologies reflected in the work of other designers. As an example, Milton Glaser was profoundly inspired by the works of Rand. This is quite evident in Glaser’s world famous “I <heart> New York”. Rand’s work is also reflected in the work of other designers who
Milton Glaser, I <heart> NY, Trademark, 1975
encompass simplicity and incorporate the juxtaposition and use of elements to generate contrast and, as a consequence, develop successful designs. Another example of a designer inspired by Rand’s incomparable style is Andrew Lewis, an internationally recognized Canadian designer whose work embodies the humorous simplicity achieved by Rand. For example, in a poster he designed for a lecture at The University of Texas at El Paso, Lewis depicted a modernist take on Rand’s humoristic cutouts with typographic elements. Thus, Rand’s legacy lives on in design today.
Andrew Lewis, Untitled, Poster, 2012
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“There are no formulas in creative work…”
Little1, Final Page, 1962
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