Inspirations of the Moment - Paul Rand

Motionographers have Saul Bass. Print Designers have Paul Rand. This man was a godsend for us Graphic Designers overall. There is a quote from Louis Danziger that pretty much says it all for his legacy in graphic design.


     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. He more than anyone else made the profession reputable. We went from being commercial artists to being graphic designers largely on his merits. 

     He was best known for his groundbreaking logo design, producing logos for IBM, UPS, NeXT, Enron, ABC and Westinghouse, just to name a few. He attended Pratt Institute, Parsons the New School for Design, and the Art Students League to harness his craft. While his logos are his more popular, his earlier works in page design were just as powerful. He designed page layouts for Esquire magazine, and was so talented, they offered him a job as Art Director of the magazine. He initially refused, but he landed the job at the age of 23. During that time, one of my favorite print design pieces was created. Direction was an cover he created in 1940-ish, that involved a barbed wired cross. The sheer minimalism, as well as strong symbolism made it one of the most inspiring piece for me as a Graphic Designer.

Learning logo design, one of his quotes rung true. "Don't try to be original. Just be good" was one of the earlier quotes we learned from in our lecture slides, and while at the time I didn't particularly agree, it was a strong testament to how a man must be to become successful. If you look at his IBM campaign, another favorite, you can see that he wasn't trying to go over anyone's head. It was simple and damn it, it worked. I mean, an eye, a bee, and an M. Seriously? A logo that pretty much epitomized everything logo  design stands for in the rulebook of proper logo design was probably his ABC Network logo. At the time, it was one of the more minimalist logos out there, and when he was asked this, he stated that "a logo cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint". That was the very first lesson our instructors taught us, and I utilize this principle to this day.

Thanks, Paul.

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