Tuesday, August 26, 2008

*Paul Rand*


Paul Rand is a very well known graphic design artist who helped orignate the Swiss Style and was also inducted into the New york Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He is known for his corporate logo designs he created in the 1950s and 1960s, which included logos for IBM, ABC, and UPS.

He attended three schools such as, the Pratt Institute, The Parsons School of Design, and the Art Students League. He created a cover for Direction magazine, which was a very crucial step in developing the "Paul Rand look." The art work con
sisted of barbed wire to show that the magazine was war-torn gift and crucifix. Over time, he became a great contribution to designing corporate identities through simplicity, which was one of his great strengths. He proved that even if you blur or manipulate his graphic works they can still be recognized, which is the need for "functional-aesthetic perfection."







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. - Paul Rand (http://www.paul-rand.com/biography.shtml)

This concept or idea of "de-familiarizing the ordinary" played a huge role when Rand was developing his corporate identities to create a "lively and original" design. These designs
ihave a modern, and simple twist that have lasted years in their corporate businesses. (http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/paul-rand/)

Pictures Sources