Paul Rand: The Real Logo Design King

Paul  Rand: The Real Logo Design King

  It's too  bad that Nike CEO Phil Knight can't appeal to Paul Rand for help. As the  ubiquitous Swoosh becomes as much a symbol of corporate greed and exploited  Southeast Asian workers as it is of athletic prowess, Rand might have a fix  quicker than Knight could dispatch Michael Jordan to Singapore.
 

  Think of three resonant, established logos, and, chances are, at least one of  them was created by Rand, the father of modern branding. With his succinct  philosophy that "the trademark should embody in the simplest form the  essential characteristics of the product or institution being advertised,"  Rand practically created the corporate logo  design culture.

  Illuminating  is the fact that Rand, who almost single-handedly brought European modern  graphic design to the United States, got his entire import out of the pages of  a magazine--a single copy of Gebraushgrafik, from a tiny bookstore next door to  the Brooklyn Paramount theater.

  Amusing is  Rand's brash presentation style. He usually gave corporate chiefs only one logo  to "choose" from, accompanied by a booklet explaining why his design  was not merely attractive, but inevitable. "I was convinced that each  typographic example on the first few pages was the final logo design," Steve Jobs recalls  of Rand's book for NeXT, which showed the four letters, then paired them with  the computer's signature black box, and then arranged them in a square. Jobs  thought he was getting lovely typography, but Rand's final logo was more than  that. "I was not quite sure what Paul was doing until I reached the end.  And at that moment I knew we had a solution... Rand gave us a jewel, which in  retrospect seems so obvious."

  Ironic is the story behind the logo maker's own moniker. "He figured that  'Paul Rand,' four letters here, four letters there, would create a nice  symbol," remembers a friend. Then he proceeded to affix the icon of his  identity--no naming consultant could have planned it better--to every piece of  his work, including that for clients. He threatened to quit when one boss asked  him to remove his name from a Dubonnet ad in the 1940s. It was the only  advertising he ever had to do. And someone else paid to distribute his brand.
   

  Learn more about Paul Rand, the logo design king, by reading this complete article at www.Logo-Mojo.com.