Paul Rand

Paul Rand was an extremely influential graphic designer, starting his career in the early 1930’s and continuing to design until his death in 1996. He was one of the originators of the Swiss style of design.

http://www.paul-rand.com/index.shtml
http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=40

Growing up in a Jewish household and attending a strict Orthodox school, the creation of images or objects could be worshiped was forbidden. It’s ironic however, that Rand’s career would focus mainly on the creation of logos and corporate identities. At an early age, Rand began painting signs for his father’s grocery store. In an attempt to conceal his Jewish heritage, he alerted his name from Peretz Rosenbaum. Discovering the unity and balance of his new name, “Paul Rand” would become his first true identity, or logo if you will. His career took off and he would soon create some of the most recognizable logos in the last 100 years. After the creation of the IMB logo, impressions that his work was “too simple” began to rise. In his defense, Rand described in his book A Designer’s Art, that “ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting.”

Rand began to research the philosophies and ideologies of famous artists including Roger Fry, Alfred North Whitehead, and John Dewey. It was noted by many that Rand’s drew the most inspiration from Dewey. Stretching from Dewey’s ideas, Rand felt the need for “functional-aesthetic perfection”. More modern inspiration came from other artists including Jan Tschichold and Paul Cezanne. He desperately tried to find connections between their work, and his design ideas. Quoting Rand:

“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.”

In one of Rand’s writings about design and communication, Rand explains some more of his ideas:
“The lament of the graphic designer that he is not permitted to do good work because good work is neither wanted nor understood by his employers is universal. It is indeed very often true. But if the artist honestly evaluates his work he will frequently find that the ‘good work’ the businessman has rejected is really not so ‘good’. Many times when the ‘square’ client says ‘it’s too far out’, he may be unconsciously reacting to inappropriate symbolism, obscure interpretation of an idea, poor typography, an inadequate display of his product, or simply bad communication.”