Paul Rand Book ERB

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IBM doodle, date unknown.

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The “ ” with the uncanny skill for marrying commerce and art, was said to have brought intelligence and ideas to advertising. He is most known for his corporate logo work.

Rand convinced some of the nation’s largest corporations that great design meant great business. He crafted unforgettable logos for corporate giants like the abc, ups, Westinghouse, and ibm. To Rand, graphic design was a process of conveying messages intelligently, interestingly, & purposely.

He focused on how to arrange diverse elements to achieve a perfect aesthetic & clarity in communication.

Rand’s creative process stemmed from a fundamental concern of permeating every surface he worked with and was conscious of the proportion, balance, harmony and dissonance of every design project.

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Top Right: The evolution of the IBM logo, 1956 - present day.

Bottom: International Business Machines (IBM) logo, in blue.

8-bar variation, 1972.

Pages 1 & 2: Clockwise from top Left: Consolidated Cigar Corporation, 1959; Enron, 1996; Colorforms, 1959; American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), 1962; Monell Chemical Senses Center, 1989; Westinghouse, 1960; Borzoi Books, 1945; Smith, Kline, & French Laboratories, 1945; Hub TV, 1995; Harcourt Brace & Company, 1957.

Cover: Figure taken from the Westinghouse Annual Report, 1970.

Clockwise from top left: Cummins, 1962; United Parcel Services (UPS), 1961; Westinghouse “Image by Design�; Westinghouse logo, 1960; NeXT Computers Identity Presentation, 1986.

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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 than what it looks like.

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Here’s what a logo is and does: A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon.

Paul Rand Logos: NeXT Computers,1986; American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), 1962; Enron, 1996; Cummins, 1962; United Parcel Services (UPS), 1961; International Business Machines (IBM), 1972; Westinghouse, 1960; Yale University Press, 1985; Connecticut Art Director’s Club, 1986.

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The effectiveness of a good logo depends on. . .

1) distinctiveness 2) visibility 3) useability 4) memorability 5) universality

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6) durability

7) timelessness

Opposite Page: Gentry Living Color logo, 1993.

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Photo: Paul Rand in his studio.

Artwork: Colored Squares borrowed from Tokyo Communications, poster, 1991.

Figure borrowed from the Westinghouse Annual Report, 1970.

Paul Rand is a Brooklynborn art director and graphic designer. He remains one of the best in the world and is known as one of the founders of Graphic Design. Born Peretz Rosenbaum, he changed his name to be simpler, consisting of 4 letters in each name, first and last, to help create a basic symbol. During a time when the world was barely aware of his craft, Rand defined visual culture in America and pioneered a fresh, modernist approach to selling goods. Although Rand was known as a “self-taught designer�, he received formal training from the Pratt Institute, The Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League. He went on to teach at Yale in 1956 and was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972.

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“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.�

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Bibliography Heller, Steven. Paul Rand. London: Paidon Press Limited, 1999.

Rand, Paul. Paul Rand: A Designer’s Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Rand, Paul. The Trademarks of Paul Rand. New York: George Wittenborn, Inc., 1960.

Rand, Paul. “Logos, Flags, and Escutcheons.” Paul-Rand.com. 1991. http://www.paul-rand.com/.

Designed by Erin Ryan-Buchanan Composed in Tw Cen MT typefaces Designed by Erin Ryan-Buchanan 2016 Printed from a Toshiba eStudio 3555c on Hammermill 80# text Copyright © Erin Ryan-Buchanan, Portland, Maine, Maine College of Art

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