Philosophers and Theorists who have influenced creative practice in moving image and design

Philosophy provides students with the opportunity to read and understand some of the powerful ideas that have shaped our culture.

Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum, (August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was an American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Westinghouse, ABC, and Steve Jobs’ NeXT. He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. Rand’s defining corporate identity was his IBM logo in 1956, which as Mark Favermann notes

“Was not just an identity but a basic design philosophy that permeated corporate consciousness and public awareness."[1]

The logo was modified by Rand in 1960.

Rand also designed packaging, marketing materials and assorted communications for IBM from the late 1950s until the late 1990s, including the well-known Eye-Bee-M poster. Ford appointed Rand in the 1960s to redesign their corporate logo, but afterwards chose not to use his modernized design.

Although his logos may be interpreted as simplistic, Rand was quick to point out in A Designer’s Art that “ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting."[2]

The core ideology that drove Rand’s career, and hence his lasting influence, was the modernist philosophy he so revered. He celebrated the works of artists from Paul Cézanne to Jan Tschichold, and constantly attempted to draw the connections between their creative output and significant applications in graphic design.

Among the ideas Rand pushed in Thoughts on Design he's book, was the practice of creating graphic works capable of retaining but face recognizable quality even after being blurred or mutilated, a test Rand routinely performed on his corporate identities.

A Designer’s Art Rand clearly demonstrates his appreciation for the underlying connections:

"From Impressionism to Pop Art, the commonplace and even the comic strip have become ingredients for the artist’s cauldron. What Cézanne did with apples, Picasso with guitars, Léger 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 de familiarize the ordinary". [3]

1)Favermann, Mark. “Two Twentieth-Century Icons.” Art New England Apr–May 1997: 15.

2) Rand, Paul. Thoughts on Design. New York: Wittenborn: 1947.

3) Rand, Paul. Paul Rand: A Designer’s Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985