- Rand, Paul
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▪ 1997U.S. graphic designer (b. Aug. 15, 1914, New York, N.Y.—d. Nov. 26, 1996, Norwalk, Conn.), was one of the most innovative and influential graphic designers of the 20th century. Employing the simplicity of modernism, with its clean geometric type and use of white space, he created some of the most recognizable corporate logos in the U.S.—among them, those for IBM, Westinghouse, United Parcel Service, and ABC—as well as textiles, posters, packages, and illustrations for children's books. Rand began his art studies by attending night school at the Pratt Institute, New York City, when he was in high school. Studies at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League followed, but he also gleaned valuable information from foreign design magazines. Rand first worked for the George Switzer Agency, but by 1935 he had opened his own studio in New York City. He became art director of Esquire-Coronet the next year, and in 1941, when a partner at the company started an advertising agency, Rand became its art director. He was a professor of graphic design at Yale University from 1956 until he became professor emeritus in 1993, and from 1977 he taught at Yale's summer program in Brissago, Switz. Thereafter he continued his prolific design career and also served as guest professor at a number of U.S. schools. Rand was the author of such books as Thoughts on Design (1947) and the memoirs Paul Rand: A Designer's Art (1985), Design, Form, and Chaos (1993), and From Lascaux to Brooklyn (1996).
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▪ American graphic designerborn August 15, 1914, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.died November 26, 1996, Norwalk, ConnecticutAmerican graphic designer who pioneered a distinctive American Modernist style.After studying in New York City, Rand worked as an art director for Esquire and Apparel Arts magazines from 1937 to 1941. As his work developed, Rand assimilated the philosophy and visual vocabulary of European art and design, in particular that of the Bauhaus, Constructivism, Cubism, De Stijl (Stijl, De), and Futurism. Rand believed that lines, shapes, and colours could become message-conveying signs and symbols in visual communications while simultaneously functioning as elements in an artistic composition. For example, in a 1947 poster promoting the New York Subways Advertising Company, Rand's arrangement of dots and concentric circles in vibrant colours becomes both an illustrative image and a dynamic composition.From 1941 to 1954 Rand worked as art director of the William H. Weintraub advertising agency, where he collaborated with copywriter Bill Bernbach. Rand advocated advertisements in which text and images were integrated into a codependent whole, with words and pictures working together to create an effective and engaging message. His advertisements, especially for Orbach's department store, pointed toward a new stripped-down approach to advertising copy and design. During the 1950s and '60s, as American corporations were turning to graphic designers to create contemporary trademarks and consistent graphic standards, Rand became a prominent proponent of such visual-identity systems. Now ubiquitous trademarks designed by Rand include the logos of Westinghouse (1960), ABC (1962), and IBM (1972). His designs for corporate annual reports were also broadly influential.Rand's career spanned seven decades, and in that time his graphic designs, teaching (he joined the faculty of Yale University in 1956), and ideas broadly influenced several generations of American designers. His major writings include Thoughts on Design (1947), A Designer's Art (1985), Design, Form, and Chaos (1993), and From Lascaux to Brooklyn (1996).Additional ReadingSteven Heller, Paul Rand (1999), the definitive biography of Rand, is illustrated by selected examples of his work.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
