Paul Rand - using the language of the poet and business man

I had the great pleasure of meeting Paul Rand at IBM in the 1980s.

It was daunting to meet one of the godfathers of design. Focused, astute and a strong advocate of attention to detail, Paul Rand worked with some of the World's largest corporations - IBM, Westinghouse, Ford and many more. He had a lot to offer in relation to my work and his influence on me will never be forgotten.

Steve Heller described him as “an enemy of mediocrity, a radical modernist”. Just before Rand died in 1996, Steve Jobs, who had been a client at NeXT Computer, said that he was 'the World's greatest living graphic designer'. His inclusion in Apple's Think different advertisements bore this out. Picasso was another different thinker chosen for this series.

Moholy Nagy said of him early in his career: 'Among these young Americans it seems to be that Paul Rand is one of the best and most capable […] He is a painter, lecturer, industrial designer, [and] advertising artist who draws his knowledge and creativeness from the resources of this country. He is an idealist and a realist, using the language of the poet and business man. He thinks in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems but his fantasy is boundless'

His contribution to the development of corporate identity from its beginnings in simple trademarks to the sophisticated machine that it is today was immense. His input was from a time when design mattered immensely and his brilliant use of what one perceives as simplicity (but which was not) made him one of the major influences in design in the 20th century.