Paul Rand

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Paul Rand Great Designer


Paul Rand Biography Born: Peretz Rosenbaum August 15, 1914 Education: Pratt Institute Parsons School of Design The Art Students League


Paul Rand’s Career 1st Career (1937 - 1941) Media Promotion Cover Design Esquire, Apparel Arts, Directors


Cover Design / Editorial


Paul Rand’s Career

2nd Career (1941 - 1954) Advertising Design


Advertising Design


Paul Rand’s Career

3rd Career (1954 - 1996) Trademark Design Corporate Identity Design


Paul Rand’s Career 4th Career Educator / Professor of Graphic Design Cooper Union 1942 Pratt Institue 1946 Yale University Graduate School of Design 1956


Here’s what a logo is and does: A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon. A logo doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies. A logo is rarely a description of a business. A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it means is more important that what it looks like.

Originally published in 1991 by AIGA, the professional association for design. Also available in “Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design” from Allworth Press.


Here’s what a logo is and does: A logo appears in many guises: a signature is a kind of logo, so is a flag. The French flag, for example, or the flag of Saudi Arabia, are aesthetically pleasing symbols. One happens to be pure geometry, the other a combination of Arabic script, together with an elegant saber-two diametrically opposed visual concepts; yet both function effectively. Their appeal, however, is more than a matter of aesthetics. In battle, a flag can be a friend or foe. The ugliest flag is beautiful if it happens to be on your side. “Beauty,” they say, “is in the eye of the beholder,” in peace or in war, in flags or in logos. We all believe our flag the most beautiful; this tells us something about logos. Originally published in 1991 by AIGA, the professional association for design. Also available in “Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design” from Allworth Press.


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Esquire Magazine 1938


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

IBM 1956 (8 Bars Variation in 1972)


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Colorforms 1959


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Westinghouse 1960


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

United Parcels Service 1961


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

American Broadcast Corporation 1962


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Cummins 1962


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Ford Motor Company 1966 (not used)


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Next Computer 1986


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

English First 1993


Paul Rand’s Identity Design

Enron 1996


The effectiveness of a good logo depends on: a. distinctiveness b. visibility c. usability d. memorability e. universality f. durability g. timelessness


Paul Rand’s Style

Pre-requisites of modernity Simplicity Ease of recognition


What is design? Design in the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions, there is no single definition. Design can be art, Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.

Paul Rand to MIT Media Laboratory audience


Good Design

The roots of good design lie in aesthetics: painting, drawing, and architecture, while those of business and market research are in demographics and statistics; aesthetics and business are traditionally incompatible disciplines.

- Design Forms and Chaos


Originality & Imitation

Mies van der Rohe once said that being good is more important than being original. Originality is a product, not an intention.

- Graphic Wit “Paul Rand: The Play Instinct�


Work Samples Cover Design


Work Samples Cover Design


Work Samples

Poster Design


Work Samples Cover Design


Work Samples Cover Design


Work Samples Cover Design


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