Paul Rand was both an American art director and Graphic Designer who is primarily known for taking the creative industry by storm with his corporate logo designs.
Born in Brooklyn in 1914 it is remarked that Rand was an incredibly creative being from a young age, partaking in many creative deeds as a daily hobby and always perceived as practicing and furthering his talent and skill. His very first taste of working in the design field of work came when he was tasked with painting the signs for his father's grocery store and for school events - minor projects which lead to a big impact on his creative future.
It was at Pratt Institute in Manhattan that Rand studied art until being offered one of his first 'official' jobs: laying out product spreads for Apparel Arts (a popular men's fashion magazine owned by Esquire). This particular job later led to him designing magazine covers where he was naturally noticed for his particular flare in design work. By his early 20's Rand grew to be considered one of the most important designers of his generation.
One distinct detail which is interesting to acknowledge with regards to Rand and his work is the perception that he was ultimately one of the first American commercial artists to look to Europe for inspiration and not only embrace but physically practice the Swiss style of graphic design. This particular element of inspiration which began to become more present within his work initially began when Rand was a student and he developed a specific intrigue with commercial art journals from both Britain and Germany (which often featured innovative pieces by graphic designers such as A.M Cassandre). and it was observed that he also became an avid fan of the Swiss expressionist Paul Klee.With these fresh, new influences Rand lapped up the likes of Swiss typographic theory and Bahaus modernist thinking (on form and function) and began to reflect them within his own evolving design work which was beginning to use and combine collage, montage, hand-lettering, drawing and even photography.
At the time Rand was truly beginning his creative career it is often perceived that American advertising was at a stand still and very much still stuck in the 19th century - especially with regards to how the advertisements themselves were printed and produced. To put it bluntly: Creativity was lacking. That was, at least, until Rand was named chief art director of the newly formed advertising agency William H. Weintraub & Co. in 1941 at the age of just 27. Undeniably Rand had a vastly different approach to the job itself and brought the striking graphic work of Europe to his very own page designs - deeming that an advertisement's effectiveness relied on how the visual and the text aspects reacted on the canvas and merged together as one. It was during this period of his work in which he introduced an essential new ingredient into commercial art: form. And above all, his advertisements in particular were always bold, witty, and full of character. Rand was bringing the act of art into advertisement.
It cannot be denied that Rand aided a vital shift in creative power (from copywriters to art directors) across the industry. He laid the ground work for the 'Creative Revolution' of the 1960's and brought fresh ideas and outlooks to advertisement that no other creative worker thought to seek out.
1947 saw the arrival of Rand's first published book: Thoughts on Design, which continues to be influential even in contemporary times as it breaches the relationship between the visual appearance of something and it's physical use. Rand's argument was that a good piece of commercial art had be not only be beautiful but persuasive - an interesting concept within itself.
Onwards from here Rand's reputation continued to flourish at a steady pace and his past experiences considered mere fuel for the upcoming (big) phase of his career. Mid 1950's witnessed American corporations begin to somewhat take notice of their European counterparts (much like Rand had long ago as a student) but instead of feeling inspiration and motivation they were burdened with envy over the varying branding styles and became more competitive in the market. Thomas Jr. of IBM was noted as envious towards the ostentatious Italian typewriter company: Olivetti, and in an attempt to better his own company Watson hired Elliot Nayes (a designer and curator for the Museum of Modern Art) to help his cause. Nayes first port of call was, in turn, to hire Rand.
It's safe to say that Rand's influence at IBM was both slow and gradual. Not only did he have to create a design system for the company but also convince the designers (at its many outposts) to ultimately abide by it. He even worked on packaging, showrooms and interiors for the company's offices in an attempt to make it more personable as a whole. Rand's most permanent bestowal on IBM came in 1962 when he revealed the company logo is actually still in use today and was, in fact, a design he had battled with for years.
The horizontal stripes of the final design were perceived to have solved two problems: from an aesthetic standpoint that united the letters as one and altered the company name to both look and feel lighter, taking away from the previous monolithic feel - all of which stack to become useful aspects for a business company logo which can be regarded as quite heavy and dull to begin with.
After this design battle had been undoubtedly won more jobs followed suit and Rand created identities and logos for the likes of UPS, ABC and Westing House - his work for these companies allowing people (and businesses) to see the value of consistent branding and identity and ultimately make it a more prominent aspect in future corporations, thus showing just how massive Rand's impact was on the creative industry and design itself, earning him a deserved status as a 'master of the trade.'
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