Paul Rand

Paul Rand was an American graphic designer; extremely well known for his corporate logo designs, many of which are still in use. He is described as one of the originators of the 'Swiss Style' of graphic design which had developed in the 50's (characterized by cleanliness and readability).

Rand's most renowned work is certainly his IBM logo,
and similarly his design for an IBM poster.

Although Rand was most famous for the logo designs he created in the 50's and 60's, the initial source of his reputation as a graphic designer came from his work for Direction Magazine. The memorable December 1940 cover, featuring barbed wire in place of ribbon on a present as well as red hole punched circles representing blood expresses Rand's subtle and abstract style, as well as his understanding of the need to convey messages quickly and efficiently.

A further example of Paul Rand's simplistic style was his company logo design for NeXT Computers, who's founder; Steve Jobs described Rand as "the greatest living graphic designer". For a fee of $100,000 Rand produced a lengthy brochure containing details of the new brand and of course, the new logo.

Paul Rand wrote a book called Thoughts on Design whereby he published many of his theories for successful design. One in particular was the practice of creating works which are able to retain their recognisable quality despite being altered in some way. This was an extremely important part of Rand's logo design process.