Paul Rand

Rand worked between 1914 and 1996 across designer, graphic designer and teacher. This article rests on 2 visual works, 14 published texts and 28 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Paul Rand studied at Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design and Yale University. The recorded working language is English. Work by Paul Rand is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are AIGA Medal.

• Birth Name — Peretz Rosenbaum • Born — 15 August 1914 • Birthplace — Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • Died — 26 November 1996 • Place of death — Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S. • Spouse — * Marion Swannie • Children — * Catherine • Parents — * Isidore Rosenbaum • Lena Hecht • Education — Pratt Institute (1929–32) Parsons (1932–33) Art Students League of New York (1933–34) • Occupation — Graphic designer Professor

Paul Rand was born Peretz Rosenbaum on August 15, 1914, in Brooklyn, New York. He embraced design at a very young age, painting signs for his father's grocery store as well as for school events at P.S. 109. Because Rand's father did not believe art could provide his son with a sufficient livelihood, he required Paul to attend Manhattan's Haaren High School while taking night classes at the Pratt Institute. Rand was largely "self-taught" as a designer, learning about the works of Cassandre and László Moholy-Nagy from European magazines such as Gebrauchsgraphik." Rand also attended Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League of New York.

His career began with humble assignments, starting with a part-time position creating stock images for a syndicate that supplied graphics to various newspapers and magazines. Between his class assignments and his work, Rand was able to amass a fairly large portfolio, largely influenced by the German advertising style Sachplakat (object poster) as well as the works of Gustav Jensen. It was around this time that he decided to camouflage the overtly Jewish identity conveyed by his name, Peretz Rosenbaum, shortening his forename to "Paul" and taking "Rand" from an uncle to form a Madison Avenue–friendly surname. Morris Wyszogrod, a friend and associate of Rand, noted that "he figured that 'Paul Rand,' four letters here, four letters there, would create a nice symbol. So he became Paul Rand." Roy R. Behrens notes the importance of this new title: "Rand's new persona, which served as the brand name for his many accomplishments, was the first corporate identity he created, and it may also eventually prove to be the most enduring." Indeed, Rand was rapidly moving into the forefront of his profession. • Illustration — An early advertisement design by Paul Rand (featured in the Museum of the City of New York's Retrospective on his work in Spring 2015) In his early twenties, he was producing work that began to garner international acclaim, notably his designs on the covers of Direction magazine, which Rand produced for no fee in exchange for full artistic freedom. Among the accolades Rand received were those of László Moholy-Nagy: Around 1934 Rands reputation was exceptional. This only managed to increase through the years as his influential works and writings firmly established him as the éminence grise of his profession. Although Rand was most famous for the corporate logos he created in the 1950s and 1960s, his early work in page design was the initial source of his reputation. In 1936, Rand was given the job of setting the page layout for an Apparel Arts (now GQ) magazine anniversary issue. "His remarkable talent for transforming mundane photographs into dynamic compositions, which... gave editorial weight to the page" earned Rand a full-time job, as well as an offer to take over as art director for the Esquire-Coronet magazines. Initially, Rand refused this offer, claiming that he was not yet at the level the job required, but a year later he decided to go ahead with it, taking over responsibility for Esquires fashion pages at the young age of twenty-three. The cover art for Direction magazine proved to be an important step in the development of the "Paul Rand look" that was not as yet fully developed. The December 1940 cover, which uses barbed wire to present the magazine as both a war-torn gift and a crucifix, is indicative of the artistic freedom Rand enjoyed at Direction; in Thoughts on Design Rand notes that it "is significant that the crucifix, aside from its religious implications, is a demonstration of pure plastic form as well... a perfect union of the aggressive vertical (male) and the passive horizontal (female)."

• Illustration — " Eye Bee M " poster designed by Rand in 1981 for IBM Rand's most widely known contributions to design are his corporate identities, many of which are still in use. IBM, ABC, Cummins Engine, UPS, and Enron, among many others, owe Rand their graphical heritage. One of his strengths, as Moholy-Nagy pointed out, was his ability as a salesman to explain the needs his identities would address for the corporation. According to graphic designer Louis Danziger: • Illustration — Rand's Westinghouse Sign and logo 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. • Illustration — Graphic design applications created for IBM by Paul Rand Rand's defining corporate identity was his IBM logo in 1956, which as Mark Favermann notes "was not just an identity but a basic design philosophy which permeated corporate consciousness and public awareness." The logo was modified by Rand in 1960. The striped logo was created in 1972. The stripes were introduced as a half-toning technique to make the IBM mark slightly less heavy and more dynamic. Two variations of the "striped" logo were designed; one with eight stripes, one with thirteen stripes. The bolder mark with eight stripes was intended as the company's default logo, while the more delicate thirteen-stripe version was used for situations where a more-refined look was required, such as IBM executive stationery and business cards. Rand also designed packaging, marketing materials and assorted communications for IBM from the late 1950s until the late 1990s, including the well-known Eye-Bee-M poster. Although Ford appointed Rand in the 1960s to redesign its corporate logo, it refused to use his modernized design. Although the logos may be interpreted as simplistic, Rand was quick to point out in A Designer's Art that "ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting." His Westinghouse trademark, created in 1960, epitomizes that ideal of minimalism while attesting Rand's point that a logo "cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint." Rand remained vital as he aged, continuing to produce important corporate identities into the 1980s and 1990s with a rumored $100,000 price per single design. The most notable of his later works was his collaboration with Steve Jobs for the NeXT Computer corporate identity; Rand's simple black box breaks the company name into two lines, producing a visual harmony that endeared the logogram to Jobs. Jobs was pleased; just prior to Rand's death in 1996, his former client labeled him "the greatest living graphic designer".

• Illustration — Westinghouse (1960) • Illustration — United Parcel Service (1961) • Illustration — American Broadcasting Company (1962) • Illustration — Unused logo concept Ford Motor Company (1966) • Illustration — International Business Machines (1972) • Illustration — Yale University Press (1985) • Illustration — Enron • Illustration — NeXT (1986)

Rand devoted his final years to design work and the writing of his memoirs. In 1996, he died of cancer at age 82 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Prior to his death, Rand asked his friend and fellow graphic designer Fred Troller to design his headstone. Graphic design author Steven Heller, known for his insightful commentary on design principles, offered praise for Rand's memorial. Heller stated “The memorial stands out among rows of traditional tombstones in the Connecticut cemetery for its economical beauty, subtle ingenuity, and elegant typography."

Paul Rand is recorded with the occupation graphic designer. Recorded as a citizen of United States. Established in Bibliothèque nationale de France under 13175602r. Established in Library of Congress under n50053901. Established in RKDartists under 314920. Established in Discogs under 3378910. Established in FAST under 17946.

During Rand's later career, he became increasingly agitated about the rise of postmodernist theory and aesthetic in design. In 1992, Rand resigned his position at Yale in protest of the appointment of postmodern designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and convinced his colleague Armin Hofmann to do the same. In justification of his resignation, Rand penned the article "Confusion and Chaos: The Seduction of Contemporary Graphic Design", in which he denounced the postmodern movement as "faddish and frivolous" and "harbor[ing] its own built-in boredom". Despite the importance graphic designers place on his book Thoughts on Design, subsequent works such as From Lascaux to Brooklyn (1996), compounded accusations of Rand being "reactionary and hostile to new ideas about design". Steven Heller defends Rand's later ideas, calling the designer "an enemy of mediocrity, a radical modernist" while Favermann considers the period one of "a reactionary, angry old man". Regardless of this dispute, Rand's contribution to modern graphic design theory in total is widely considered intrinsic to the profession's development.

The core ideology that drove Rand's career, and hence his lasting influence, was the modernist philosophy he so revered. He celebrated the works of artists from Paul Cézanne to Jan Tschichold, and constantly attempted to draw the connections between their creative output and significant applications in graphic design. In A Designer's Art Rand clearly demonstrates his appreciation for the underlying connections: From Impressionism to Pop Art, the commonplace and even the comic strip have become ingredients for the artist's cauldron. What Cézanne did with apples, Picasso with guitars, Léger with machines, Schwitters with rubbish, and Duchamp with urinals makes it clear that revelation does not depend upon grandiose concepts. The problem of the artist is to defamiliarize the ordinary.