On August 15, 1914 in Brooklyn NY, Peretz Rosenbaum was born. For 82 years Rosenbaum continuously impressed his skill and creativity upon the world. From his contribution in stock images to his work on corporate identities Rosenbaum left a lasting and daunting impression on designers. Of course, instead of Peretz Rosenbaum, Paul Rand was the name we all knew him by as he established himself as an iconic American graphic designer.
Growing up as an Orthodox Jew, where it is forbidden to create graven images that can be idolized, Rand defied his heritage by not only pursuing his passion as a designer, but by becoming a master at his craft.
Rand began humbly, painting signs for his father's grocery and his school P.S. 109. His father, however, did not take to Rand's artistic interests and required Paul to enter the Manhattan Harren High School as well as take night classes at the Pratt Institute. Neither of these engagements sufficiently satisfied him and Paul began sharpening his skills on his own. For a year, from 1932, Rand studied at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League from 1933 to 1934.
His career began with part-time positions, creating stock images for a syndicate that provided images for magazines and newspapers. From his class work and jobs while influenced by the German advertising style of Sachplakat (ornamental style) and Gustav Jensen, Rand developed a large portfolio. Totally consumed by design, this was the point where "Peretz Rosenbaum" became Paul Rand. Shortening his first name to 'Paul' and borrowing his uncle's name to create his surname, Rand thought that the four letters of each of his names created a charming symbol.
By his early twenties, Rand had already started making an impression in his field. Rand received the unique opportunity to design the cover of Direction magazine. For no fee he designed several covers in exchange for complete artistic freedom. His work on the magazine garnered him international fame and it only increased through the years. His design for the December 1940 issue used barbed wire to present the magazine as a crucifix as well as a war-torn gift. He 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).” Such designs were among Rand’s efforts to bridge the gap between his work and Europe’s modernist masters.
Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter and photographer wrote "Among these young Americans it seems to be that Paul Rand is one of the best and most capable [. . .] He is a painter, lecturer, industrial designer, [and] advertising artist who draws his knowledge and creativeness from the resources of this country. He is an idealist and a realist, using the language of the poet and business man. He thinks in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems but his fantasy is boundless."
Paul Rand was best known for his corporate logos, however he did not forget his roots in page design. By the age of twenty-three, Rand had designed covers and layouts for Direction, Apparel Arts, and most notably Esquire-Coronet magazines. Rand’s ability to transform “mundane photographs into dynamic compositions” earned him an offer at Esquire-Coronet as art director. Initially rejecting the offer fearing he wasn’t good enough, Rand finally took up the position a year later at the tender age of twenty-three.
His most notable contribution to graphic design is his provision of corporate identities through his logos. Westinghouse, ABC, UPS and IBM are just a few who owe their graphical popularity to him.
The logo designed for IBM in 1956 was Rand’s defining corporate identity. Mark Favermann noted that the logo “was not just an identity but a basic design philosophy that permeated corporate consciousness and public awareness.” From the early 1970’s to the 1980’s Rand designed the packaging and marketing materials for IBM, including the famed Eye-Bee-M poster. In the 1960s Ford also employed Rand to redesign their corporate logo, but decided against using his modernized design.
To address those who thought his designs were too simplistic, (for example, the ABC logo) Rand said, “ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting.” He believed that in order for design to have a lasting more commanding effect simplicity was key. Holding fast to this belief he helped to develop the Swiss Style of graphic design in the 1950’s, which emphasized cleanliness and readability.
Designers owe the success and necessity of their work to Paul Rand’s pitching abilities. Paul Rand whole-heartedly believed that design could bring a business to life and convinced corporations of this. Graphic designer Louis Danziger said of him:
"He almost single-handedly 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."
In 1972 Paul Rand published his cutting edge book Thoughts on Design. The entire process was influenced by Maholy-Nagy. Once, when asked by Nagy if he reads art criticism, Rand replied no prompting Nagy to reply, “Pity.” From that moment on Rand began reading books from revered art philosophers including Alfred North Whitehead, Roger Fry and John Dewey. They all had a lasting effect on Paul, however Dewey was especially influential. In an interview with Michael Kroeger in 1995 Paul Rand said of Dewey’s Art as Experience:
“[. . . Art as Experience] deals with everything—there is no subject he does not deal with. That is why it will take you one hundred years to read this book. Even today’s philosophers talk about it[.] [E]very time you open this book you find good things. I mean the philosophers say this, not just me. You read this, then when you open this up next year, that you read something new.”
Rand continued to draw from Dewey, pulling lines from Dewey’s philosophy to his own theory of “functional-aesthetic perfection,” a theory that called for designs to remain recognizable despite image manipulation or blurring. Rand always performed this test on his corporate identities.
It is said that the force that drove Rand was his reverence of modernist philosophy. He always attempted to draw connections between such artists like Paul Cezanne and Jon Tschichold and applications in graphic design. In A Designer’s Art Rand’s appreciation for the connection between the two is evident with this quote:
"From Impressionism to Pop Art, the commonplace and even the comic strip have become ingredients for the artist’s caldron. What Cezanne did with apples, Picasso with guitars, Leger 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."
Rand’s idea of defamiliarizng the ordinary goes back to his idea of creating simple but extraordinary designs.
Rand died in November 26, 1996 from cancer but not before being inducted into the New York Art Directiors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He also taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut from 1956 to 1969, and again in 1974. He continued to produce work well into his eighties and nineties for a rumored price of $100,000 per solution. In collaboration with Steve Jobs, Rand created the corporate identity for NeXT Computer. Just before his death Jobs dubbed him, “the greatest living graphic designer.” In 2007 Rand was also inducted into the One Club Hall of Fame.
