Topic > Paul Rand: Life and Career

IndexPaul RandEarly life and educationModernist influencesPaul RandPaul Rand was an American filmmaker and graphic designer, famous for his logos in the corporate sector, including the logo of UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc. , Westinghouse, ABC and NeXT. He was one of the first American commercial artists to embrace and practice the Swiss style of graphic design. He was professor emeritus of graphic design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught from 1956 to 1969 and from 1974 to 1985. He was accepted into the New York Art Director Club Hall of Fame in 1972. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Early Life and Education Paul Rand was originally born with the name "Peretz Rosenbaum" on August 15, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. He took up design at an early age, painting signs for his father's grocery store and for school events at PS 109. His father did not believe that art could provide his son with a sufficient livelihood, and so convinced Paul to attend Haaren High in Manhattan. School while taking night classes at Pratt Institute. Paul was mostly “self-taught” as a designer. He became acquainted with the works of AM Cassandre and Moholy-Nagy from European magazines such as Gebrauchsgraphik. Paul also attended Parsons The New School for Design and the Art Students League of New York. Influences and Other Work Theory Development Although Paul was a hermit in his creative process, carrying the vast majority of the design load despite having a large staff at various points in his career, he was very interested in producing theory books to explain his philosophy .Moholy-Nagy may have influenced Paul's passion for knowledge when he asked his colleague if he had read art criticism at their first meeting. Paul said no, prompting Moholy-Nagy to reply, “Pity.” Heller further explains the impact of this meeting, noting that, "from that point on, Paul consumed the books of major philosophers of art, including Roger Fry, Alfred North Whitehead, and John Dewey." These theorists would leave a lasting impression on Paul's work; in a 1995 interview with Michael Kroeger discussing, among other topics, the importance of Dewey's Art as Experience, Paul explains about Dewey's appeal:[... Art as Experience] deals with everything - there is no topic he doesn't deal with. That's why it will take a hundred years to read this book. Even today's philosophers talk about it. Every time you open this book you find beautiful things. I mean, philosophers say that, not just me. Read this, then when you open it next year, read something new. As is obvious, Dewey is an important source for Paul's hidden point of view in graphic design; on page one of Paul's groundbreaking "Thoughts on Design," the author begins to draw lines from Dewey's philosophy to the need for "aesthetic-functional perfection" in modern art. Among the ideas Paul pushed in "Thoughts on Design" was the practice of creating graphic works that could retain their recognizable quality even after being blurred or damaged, a test Paul regularly performed on his corporate identities. Modernist Influences Undoubtedly, the key ideology that guided Paul's career, and thus his lasting influence, was the modernist philosophy that he admired. It celebrated the works of artists from Paul Cezanne to Jan Tshichold, applications in graphic design. In “A Designer's Art,” Paul clearly demonstrates his appreciation for suppressed connections. From impressionism to pop art, the mainstream and even comics have become ingredients in the artist's cauldron. What Cezanne did with apples, Picasso with guitars, Leger with.