coming up at wright will be a special auction, paul rand: the art of design. while this amazing material is here in chicago, wright is hosting an event to share the work with the chicago community, and honor the legendary designer.
join us on september 11th for a special reception featuring guest speaker, philip burton. burton, professor and founding chair at the school of design at the university of illinois at chicago and an independent design consultant, worked alongside paul rand in the 1980s at yale’s summer design program in brissago, switzerland.
feeling good and feeling bad. feeling good: chicago designer, wayne stuetzer, sends me an image he cherishes unsolicited: a josef m-b card given to him by the Man himself. my response is a [ paul rand business card ] post. i pinned the above image under [ classic/retro design ]
josef müller-brockmann | the graphic artist and his design problems | 1961 [ more ]
feeling bad: just finished summer intermediate typography course covering genres including “swiss” and did not bring the (above) books to class. feeling good: the “swiss” spreads (below) from a 32-page book each student printed.
designer | grace gondela
designer | sean leary
almost forgot. feeling good: wayne’s response to the p-rand post is “Link it to Paul Rand’s card and the comment by the unfortunate soul who felt it was somehow too plain for a famous designer.” [ your business card sucks ] [ joseph müller-brockmann ] [ paul rand ]
In 1993 Steve Jobs talks about his logo designer for Next, Paul Rand. Encounter exposes a common thread between them.
For example, did Jobs talk to other designers? No. Rand was the only designer Jobs approached. And Jobs asks if Rand will show him a few options. Rand says, “No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution and if you want options go to other people. But I will solve your problem for you the best way that I know how.”
Editor’s note: I chaired a conference on corporate identity for the STA (Society of Typographic Arts) before becoming the American Center for Design and I called Mr. Rand four times asking him if he would speak. Well, it was not going to happen. He said he didn’t go to these things, period. Yes, very curmudgeony. The final speakers were: David Strong (David Strong); Robert Burns (Burns Cooper and Hynes); Phil Seefeld (Landor); John Massey (Container Corporation); Wayne Webb (RVI Corporation); Herb Murrie (Murrie White Drummond Lienhart).
Five years later I co-chaired Trademarks USA2 for the STA. Thinking Mr. Rand needed a more esteemed roster and asked: Saul Bass (Bass Yeager); Ivan Chermayeff (Chermayeff & Geismar); Walter Landor (Landor); Walter Margulies (Lippincott Margulies; John Massey (Container Corporation); Wayne Webb (RVI Corporation). Of interest, first time the Walter’s met face-to-face. Mr. Rand said thanks but it was going to be paralysis due to over analysis. He asked if I put this much time into solving design problems.
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