Paul Rand

PAUL RAND (BORN PERETZ ROSENBAUM, AUGUST 15, 1914 – NOVEMBER 26, 1996) was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs. Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute (1929-1932), the Parsons School of Design (1932-1933), and the Art Students League (1933-1934). He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. From 1956 to 1969, and beginning again in 1974, Rand taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Rand was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He designed many posters and corporate identities, including the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC. Rand died of cancer in 1996.

Information found at: (http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/biography/#.UpyTosSsim4)

Texture: The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance.

Paul Rand demonstrated texture in various ways through his work. As a graphic designer, texture plays a big role in his work. He mainly worked with advertisement and logos. There is texture present in his "Nutri cola" ad on the bottle and even the lid. You can see the smoothness of the glass bottle he has created. Also, the bumpy ridges of the bottle top. There is texture demonstrated in his "Airwick" advertisement. The fish in the middle of the advertisement. The fish in the middle of the advertisement has a scale texture visible. Paul Rand did a great job when it came to designing textures.

Dominance: The importance of the emphasis of one aspect in relation to all other aspects of a design/element of art.

Dominance is an important element when it comes to design. Paul Rand shows dominance in his "Airwick" advertisement. It displays a large onion, and coming from the middle of it is and "Airwick" bottle. He is showing the dominance the "Airwick" has on killing the odor of the onion. In Paul Rand's "El Producto" advertisement, he displays a great example of dominance. He shows the product name, a large cigar, followed by a hat on top of it with a hand on the side smoking. There is clarity in the ad that "El Producto" sells cigars. The dominance is shown in the large cigar.

Color: The property possessed by an object of producing different sensations of the eye as a result of the way the object reflects or emits light.

Paul Rand shows color well and coordinates it well in his advertisements. In his "Ancient Age Whisky" ad, it shows a dark golden brown whisky complimented with green and red. In one of Paul Rand's "Airwick" advertisements, well most of the "Airwick" advertisements, there is vibrant color demonstrated.

Unity: The state of being united as a whole.

Paul Rand has "Diamond Eight Whisky" ad, he shows proper unity. In the ad it is showing that it's the holiday season, so inside of the diamond there is a Christmas tree with ornaments. Next to the Christmas tree is an eight, symbolizing "Diamond Eight". In front of the diamond is the bottle of "Diamond Eight Whiskey". Throughout the ad there is perfect unity. Paul Rand is getting his point of the Christmas season through the ad.

Value: The important part of what influences the designer.

Paul Rand shows value in his works, for example his advertisements, by showing how important the product hes displaying. In his "James Pepper Kentucky Bourbon" ad there are many elements that give off the importance of the bourbon. At the top of the ad there is a quote, "The one bourbon you'll like best......to give or get."Also, in bold print it states, "No.1", letting the viewer know that this bourbon is exceptionally good. Paul Rands design skill displays the value of and very well.

Shape: The external form or appearance characteristic of someone or something; the outline of an area or figure.

Shape is my favorite element that Paul Rand displays is his work. His advertisements have many shapes in them that allows your eyes to move all around the screen. The "Stafford Robes" advertisements have many diverse shapes that make the product unique. I believe shapes are what make his work the way it is in all of his advertisements.  

Harmony: agreement or concord.

Paul Rand uses harmony through contrast. The logos for Safford Fabrics, Accent Software, Tipton Lakes and more have colors, textures, and positive and negative space.  For example, the Accent Software logo forms an A, and on the right side of the A there is the colorful mashed up flags of different countries. There are no complimentary colors; although, majority of the colors are red and blue and he uses blue alone on the left side of the A. This large color of blue compliments the entire right side of the A, and you see harmony altogether. In the Stafford Fabrics logo, there are three different colorful textures on the form of the horse. What brings those opposing forces together, is a sand paper texture that is majority of the horse. With the sand paper being the majority, it combines the textures and you can see the harmony. In the Tipton Lakes logo, the T is the positive form. The negative space is coming in and creating harmony by being combined with the positive space.

Balance: an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.

The way Paul Rand uses balance is shown through lines. In the Harcourt Brace and Company logo there is a thick bold white line that is part of the negative space. On opposite sides there is a blue rectangle on the left and a red one on the right. The thick white lines go divides the colors and on the inside are the letters H in the blue and B in the red. These letters are come from the white bold line. The logo is basically asymmetrical. For the Mossberg company logo there are colorful letters. The letters are on top of each other, and they are in the form of a division. This is because in between the giant M and the smaller c and o, there is a bold black line. The logo goes straight down and is very balanced. The Smith, Kline and French Laboratories logo shows balance with lines. The lines form what appear to be three signs together, and on the signs there is the abbreviation SKF. On the both ends of the vertical sign there is a line coming out. The top is has two more sprouting diagonally. This makes the logo appear balanced and standing up. Finally, the Robeson Cutlery logo has a triangle that is sideways to the right. In other words, it resembles the play button for a DVD player. Dividing that triangle horizontally, is a line going from the end of one word stating ‘Shur’, precisely through the triangle into the beginning of the word ‘edge’.  This cuts the shape into two, now 90 degree triangles.

Rhythm: a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.     

Paul Rand has slight use of rhythm. In the Smith Kline and French logo, it looks like three signs together in a vertical form. The shape of the signs appear to be twisting in and out. On the outside of the form there is this in and out motion that pleases the eye. It makes the logo interesting to look at. The Helbros Watch logo is very simple. Altogether the logo is one line, but the O in the logo is an optical illusion that’s repetitively moving inward. It isn’t much effort put into the rhythm; it’s just a plain line altogether.

Space: a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied.

Paul Rand’s most famous logos that we normally recall seeing are simple in space. His design logos for ‘ABC’, ‘IBM’, ‘Ford’, and ‘UPS’ has the simple figure-ground space. The letters are simply flat and lie on to the negative space. He also brings the negative space of the image into the logo. For example, the IBM logo looks like the image is either strapped down in white or just chopped up lying on the background. This is an illusory use of space the flat surface. The viewer cannot really tell which space is positive or negative. The IBM logo could be the negative space, but thankfully for the form of the letters we know that it’s meant to be positive. Another logo that brings the background space into the image is the ‘Next’ logo. In this image there is a cube, and on the top of it is the word, next. Instead of leaving the form of the cube black without lines, Rand uses the white negative space to create the lines of the cube. Letting the background be apart of the ‘Next’ image gives a sense of depth. This use of space makes the entire image come together.

Contrast: the state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association. 

Paul Rand’s use of contrast, looks complimentary. Not all of them do, but you see it mostly in the colored logos. The ‘Accent Software’ logo is a good example. Altogether, the image forms an A. On the right side of it, there is an abundance of flags all mashed together. However, the color of the flags put together looks pleasing to the eye. The amount of contrast in the image would not have looked cohesive if the left side of the A was not blue. If it were green or orange the contrast would not have been so interesting to look at. Another example, is the ‘Stafford Fabrics’ logo. The image forms a horse with what appears to be scratch paper, and other layered textures. The words as well next to and under the horse are are black and blue with each letter. The texture on three different sides of the horse would not look cohesive if not for the scratch paper. Rand maximizes a color that can bring the contrast together. Other forms of contrast you can see in shape and size. The contrast between size shows. Rand places the actual meaning inside of a bigger shape. The Yale University Press has the letters ‘Yale’ inside of a bigger circle. The logo for Tipton Lakes has a giant black T with white baby ducks on the inside. It shows contrast in color, and size. The meaning lies inside of the T; a viewer would not understand looking at the name of the company and seeing the logo with just a T. With the contrast in the size it is another complimentary example.

Line: Line in drawing refers to a type of mark that contains both a direction and a length.  Line is an art element.  There are numerous varieties of possible lines, including curved, bent, thick, wide, broken, vertical, horizontal, burred, or freehand.  Lines are frequently used to delineate shapes, forms and spaces.  The representation of volume, edges, movement and patterns can all be created using line.  Lines can create both 2D and 3D objects and figures. 

Paul Rand’s use of line is more of curvilinear. In a few of Rand’s logos, his skinny lines have loose curves that fill up the image. The logo for the Portfolio Magazine there is one line that is written ‘Portfolio’ in cursive. At the end of the word the line is dragged out to take up more space of the image. In addition, Rand adds another line in a different color under the first to make it look like a shadow. He uses that same way of the line for the Wallace Puppets logo. The line is curved and written in cursive of the company. The only difference is with the hand holding the line, it is suggested to be a string. It makes sense because of the name of the word puppet. Other than just writing cursive letters, Paul Rand uses lines to form an object with shape and line. For example, the United Postal Services logo has the abbreviations in the simple shape pointing downward. Above, is a box with space between the two shapes and a line drawn to look like a bow. This symbolizes the box being a present or package. Another example of using line and shape to form something is the Theatrical Architectural Television logo. There are three shapes: one appears to be the half of an oval pointing down, the other is a triangle pointing down, and the bottom one is a square with curved angles. In between those shapes is a line coming going through the shapes and forming a person. The line comes through the half oval with twisted lines, implying hair, and came out of the square curved outward meant to be feet. The words Theatrical is written on the half oval, Architectual on the triangle, and Television on the square. Altogether this formed a human with line and shape combined.

Form: the visible shape or configuration of something.

In Paul Rand’s use of form it is the same as the use of space. He uses the negative space to give better definition to the positive form. Aside from the ‘Next’, and IBM logo, it shows the same kind of pattern in the logo for Tipton Lakes. The negative space gives the form of the ducks inside of the giant T. It is sort of like the method of two positive forms touching, but instead Rand uses the negative to cross boundaries to make a form inside of the positive area. Other designs of his use the exact same kind of method for Enron, and the Harcourt Brace and Company logo. His other use of forms come from the use of his lines and shape. He combines the two elements to make a describable form such as the UPS logo with the square wrapped in curvilinear line. A good example, is the Dunhill Clothier logo. The letters, which are also considered lines, have the shape of a rectangle and a half circle combined to make it look like the faces of men with hats. This method of positive forms touching is over each letter, “DUNHILL”. Looking at the logo with the heads over the bold letters, you can see the letters being suits.