Paul Rand Part 3

Paul Rand: Part 3

As he had done with many adverts, Paul Rand had designed many book covers. He merged photographs, pieces of patterned or colored paper and the use of token font. He preferred the use of sans-serif and contributed to a sense of closeness by adding his own personal touch in handwriting. He was seen as modernist and he had once exclaimed that “the real difference between modernism and traditional design lies in the way an image is placed on a sheet of paper.”

Paul Rand as a member of business in advertisement held how important a brand identity was and single-handedly managed to convince numerous companies that it was more important than a billboard. It is thanks to him that commercial artists in the 1950s had become legitimate workers in business as graphic designers. Eventually the fastest growing and cost-effective business of the time had in effect become that of corporate identity design.

One of the most effective designs he had made was that for IBM. Upon entering this modern technology era, Rand thought that the company’s logo needed a restart. The 1924 logo was mainly composed of a globe with a very modest font. Being a conservative organization, Rand could not just jump in to introduce the IBM light blue parallel striped version of the logo. Instead he took baby steps first changing the logo of 1947 in 1956 so that the font was only slightly changed into a more stylish version of the ‘slab-serif’ and block filled in black until he changed it with his initial idea in 1972.

Rand kept designing for IBM until 1980, where they eventually even integrated his famed Eye-Bee-M poster.

Paul Rand’s designs were criticized as being much unsophisticated, however he did not hesitate to say that in order to be original or exciting one did not need to be too obscure or over-the-top with the designs. On the other hand, his extremely minimalist designs turned these logos timeless and relaxed, and could appear trendy in another 10 years. He has in point of fact designed identities for ABC, Cummins Engine, UPS, and Westinghouse which are still used today.

Apart from these he worked with Steve Jobs on creating a new logo and company name which had become known as NeXT and also on the colored Apple Logo. Rand was proud of his work. Upon starting out for work Paul Rand had told Jobs, “I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.”

Paul Rand died at the age of 82 in 1996 where had spent the rest of his life creating trademarks and developing them. He was in a few words, a revolutionary. He was the man who had linked European modernist art with graphic design originating from the USA, and he was one of the few to use both methods in design. Other than that of hand-drawing and paper-sticking, he had made use of the newer technical equipment. He broke away from the old traditions but built enough confidence to produce what he really wanted.

References:

·        http://www.complex.com/style/2012/03/20-graphic-designers-you-should-know/21

·        http://iconofgraphics.com/paul-rand/

·        http://www.myturtleneck.com/blog/2009/4/16/graphic-modernist-paul-rand.html

·        http://ahistoryofgraphicdesign.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-york-school.html

Philip B. Meggs, Megg’s History of Graphic Design, John Wiley & Sons, 2012, New Jersey