paulrand designers words

8/6/2019 PaulRand Designers Words

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Pau lRand:ADes igners


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Paul Rand: A Designer's Words

Edited by Steven Heller, Georgene Ballance and Nathan Garland

Paul Rand SymposiumA pril 3 1998Sponsored by theSchool of V i su a l A rt sNew York


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I had the courage or theaudacity or the stupidityto take a chance.I didn't know what the hellwould happen.Interview with George Lois 1986

Thanks to Julie Lasky, Laura Shore,Mario Ramponc, and [ames and CharlesI lillrnan for their generous SUppOfr.


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ModernismI haven't changed my mind about modernism from the first da y Iever did it . ... It means integri ty; i t means honesty; It means the absenceof sentimentality and the absence of nostalgia; it means simplicity;it means clarity. That's what modernism means to me ....

Lecture IIFalll ROl ld Re l / "osp t r l ir . ' e Cooper Union, Ocr 3 19~6

Many people were doing modern stuff in England. But [E. i'v1cKnightJKauffer was doinz the best stuff. There wasn't anybody anywherenear him except for Cassandre. Kauffe; gave Cassandre credit. He toldme, "Hes our father,"

interview with Steven Heller 1987

Can you think of anybody before 1920 who did anything that wasremotely abstract in this country in terms of graphic design?

Interview with Steven Heller 1988

I never did calligraphy .... But handwriting is an entirely different kindof thing. It's part of the syndrome of modernism .... It's part of tintasceucrsrn. Imer view with Steven Heller 1987

Good DesignGood design adds value of some kind, gives mean ina, and, notincidenrally, can be sheer pleasure to behold; it respects the viewer'ssensibilities and rewards the entrepreneur.

D es ig F o rm ( /l id C h ao s

Even if it is true that the average man seems most comfortable with thecommonplace and familiar, it is equally true that catering to bad taste,which we so readily attr ibute {O the average reader merely perpetuatesthat mediocrity and denies the reader one of the most easily accessiblemeans for aesthetic development and eventual enjoyment.Though t s 011 Des ig


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8 l 'u ul R ar 1d :,\ i J< os ig nc fs W or (h 9 PaLlI Rnod: i\ Dc,igner's \\'",


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10 Pall I Rand: A Designer 's Words I I Pau l Rand: A Designer' s Word,

Originality and ImitationI was just doing what they were doing in Europe. I didn't claim thatthis was any great, original stuff, because it wasn't. It was influenced bySurrealism and Picasso.

EducationAlbers wanted me to teach at Black Mountain, and I didn't want to go.\Vell, actually I didn't feel that I was good enough to teach.

Interview with Steven Heller 1988Interview with Steven] lel ler 1987

Mies van der Rohe once said that being good is more important thanbeing original. Originality is a product, not an intention.GTllpl i i r W ir "Paul Rand: The Play Instinct" 1991

I would say that an understanding of man's intrinsic needs, andof the necessity to search for a climate in which those needs could berealized, is fundamental to the education of the designer. It is onlywhen man (and the hordes of individuals that term stands for) is notaccepted as the center of human concern that it becomes feasibleto create a system of production which values profit out of proportion toresponsible public service, or to design ads in which the only aestheticcriterion is "How sexy is the girl?"D o e r / a / u . s . . JOIII"IIIl! ofd l t i lmtnmll Aradf lll) ' of A 11.1fllri S c i e n c e s

Special Issue: "The Visual Arts' lodav" Winter 1')60

When 1was doing the covers of Direc t i on I was trying to competewith tile Bauhaus, not with Norman Rockwell. I was trying to competewith Van Doesberg and Leger and Picasso. "Compete" is not theright word. I was trying to do it in their spirit.

lnrerview with Steven Heller 1')88

A cigar is almost as commonplace as an apple, but if I fail to make adsfor cigars that are lively and original, it will not be the cigar that is at fault.

[)(leriaills, I ourno ! 0/ tilt' Alllitlialil Acad em y a/ A ItS (llJri SciencesSpecial Issue: "The V i su al A r cs T o da y" \Vin t e r 1960

I don't know of any other way of teaching an except by criticizing.Theories, when. you're teaching art, have to come later, nor before ....[Alfred North] Whitehead says that theory is fine, but it must beconnected with practice. Otherwise it 's meaningless.

Interview with Steven Heller 1988The idea of imitation is very prominent in modernism. You don't imitateanything. Interview with Sleven Heller Ig87

is absurd. Problems il1 B o o k D e si g"Book Bindi ll g and Book Production" October 1')45

Teaching art (design), perhaps more than other disciplines, involves aspecial kind of commitment from both teacher and student. Mostcomplex is the task of formulating the problem. Ideally, an assignmentshould be ... palatable, challenging, and absorbing, inviting curiosi tyand encouraging exploration. It should deal not only with formalbut manual ski lls.

A designer might bc guided somewhat in the way he plans the bookfrom the description of the bygone era, bur to simulate that period

PaN ! Rand: A De s ig n e r' s /InInnovation leads one to see the new in the old and distinguishes theingenious from tile ingenuous.

Design FOI1I1 a mi C ha os


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L2 Paul RM


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14 1"1I1 i lo"d: A Designers Word , 15 1'3ul Rand: A Designers Word ,

SystematizationThere's a natural need for order. Whether you like it or not, you live bya system. Even if you think that systems are stupid, you have breakfastevery morning, and you go to the john, and you go to sleep, and that's

As Cubism is to modern painting, the so-called Swiss style is tomoderntypography and design.

Pall! R a nd : A Designar': Ar t

a system. Interview with Steven Heller 1988 AestheticsAesthetics is the language of appearances - of an, design, thebeautiful, and the ugly... :10 talk about, srudv, teach or criticize a workofart, focus must always be on problems of form in relation, of course,to a particular content.

Unpublished addendum [0 F rom L as au o: 10 8rooNYII

People mistake a system for something that has to be adhered to,which isstupid. Even Le Corbusier said, about the modular, "If you don'twant it, to hell with it." And I think that's how you have to edita system. Otherwise, you may as well walk around in a striped suit.


GridsI don't sit down and start with grids - although I do grids all the time.Sometimes maybe I don't use them, or maybe I don' t use themproperly, but who cares? 1want to know I can starr the margin alwaysin the same place, and then T use my different vertical and horizontalnodal points for different things. And that's a help! You wouldn'tknow it after it's done, but that's the way I did it.

Interview with Steven Heller 19S5

Simplicity is never a goal; it is a by-product of a good idea and modestexpectations. hom Lascaux toBrooJdYI l

Design IngredientsForm and content are interactive; they are mutually dependent. Insofaras form manipulates content, content determines the nature of itsmanipulation. D e si g" F o rm {/Ild Chao(

Swiss DesignWhen I was first aware of what the Swiss were doing, I used to ridiculeit. I used to yodel and say,"My God, here they come again." I really felt(hat the stuff was cold, and all the other cliches people use to describeSwiss design. But then I changed completely . ... Granted that there isa lot of lousy, very stiff and very cold stuff But there is no counterpart toSwiss design in terms of something that you can describe, that you canfollow,that you can systematically understand. It just makes sense.


Pictures, abstract symbols, materials, and colors are among the ingre-dients with which a designer or engineer works. To design is to discoverrelationships and tomake arrangements and rearrangements amongthese ingredients. DeJig l i F0/711fllld ChaosThe principal role of a logo is to identify, and simplicity is its means ....Its effectiveness depends on distinctiveness, visibility, adaptability,memorability, universality, and timelessness.

Des ig Form alld Chaos


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16 P aL L I Ra nd : A Designer's Word, r 7 P "" I R und: II D ""ign~ r\ W ord,

Editing is a very important aspect of designing.Interview with George Lois 1986

Our democracy and competitive form of economic life should promotea vital and diverse commercial art; instead, we often find it moredifficult to sell original ideas than pedestrian ones.

Pictures are not surrogates for words, nor are words surrogates for pictures.Interview with George Lois 1986

Art ill Adcertirillg August 1954

Inspiration'1'he source of the creative impulse is a mystery Ideas may comefrom anywhere, anything, any time, any place [Often] they spring fromrather unromantic, sometimes unexpected, or even unsavory sources.

P at ti R a ll d. A Designer': A"

Personal preferences, prejudices, and stereotypes often dictate what alogo looks like, but it is n e e d s not wants, i d ea s not type styles thatdetermine what its form should be.

De.,igfl Form {1m/ Cl lf /( ) r

Ideas are fuel for the imagination; they are the unique response to ameaningful question.

F r o t L a s c a u x / 0 i J I" O O i . '( 1 '1 i

Goo and RococoIn [he Wesr we look at art through life. Vi/ell, that's one way of living.In the Orient they look at life through art. They even drink their teawithout sugar, for the same reason that they don't like a lot of frillydecoration on a painting. I can't stand butter on my bread for the samereason. I'm allergic to goo an d rococo.

P" 1 (daily newspaper) April 20 1947

Ideas may also grow out of the problem itself, which in turn becomespart of the solution.POIII Ra n d ' II {)p.rigller', Ar t

The artist is by necessity a collector; he accumulates things with thesame ardor and curiosity [with which] a boy stuffs his pockets.He borrows from the sea and from the scrap heap; he rakes snapshots,makes mental notes, and records impressions on tablecloths andnewspapers - why one particular thing and not another, he may notknow at the time, but he is omnivorous, He has a taste for children's wallscrawling as appreciative as that for prehistoric cave painting,

lD "Paul Rand: Ideas about Ideas" 1955

Designer as ArtistI just always was interested in art. It's like asking me how do I havebreakfast; you know you just. have it.

Lecture A P aid R(Illd RellO.rjJrxliee Cooper IInion, On 3 1996

Ihink that unless the thing is practical, it's not art. Because thatquality that makes art is the fact that it works. You can do abstractthings and everything looks lovely, but it doesn't do a bloodything. The art comes in the ingenuity of a designer who is able to,in a way, conceal art as a service to business. The guy who canreally make it work is the real anise.

Interview with George Lois 1986


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I R P,, ,I Rand: A Designers Words T9 Paul [{and: t\ Designer's Worth

The other side of the coin is to be a Sunday painter, which is the mostdepressing idea there is.... Because it means that the rest of the weekisfutile. . . . Interview with George Lois 1986

1 'he impetus to conform, so widespread today,will, if not checked, killall forms of creativity.

Diledti l l l s , JOIiOItIJ oj /h e Amer i ca Acadel l !J 0/11,-t5 a n d S c ie n ce sSpecial Issue: "The Visual AITS Today" Wimer 1960

That graphic design isgenerally considered a minor art has more todo with posturing than it does with reality.The paucity of great art is nomore prevalent among designers than it is among painters,

P O ll !R a ll d: A D e si gn e r' s A I1

Innovation distinguishes the leader from the follower, never satisfiedwith what has been, but intent on what will be. It is the driving forceof the creative spirit, sensitive to change and the changeless. It focusesnot only on what isright, but on what isexceptional. Surprise, notpredictability, is its hallmark.

Desig F o m: a lld ChaosThe great lesson of the cave paintings of Lascaux is that art is anintuitive, autonomous, and timeless activity and works independentlyof the development of society.

From [,(1SU1IIX to BrooklYIi I hate words that are abused, like "creativity."Interview with Steven Heller 1988Unlike tile practitioners of l'art pour l'art; J believe what determinesthe Status of art is not gcnre bur quality.

F r o m L a sc au x /0 Bmokl l ' l lRationalization

All creative art is intuitive. So if it's intuitive, how do you know whyyou do something? Youknow why you do something after the fact,then you make up all kinds of stories about it.

Lecture A Pal l ! R r l l lr l Re t ro spe c t l o Cooper Union, Oct:> 1')')6Grace, dignity, passion, and pleasure signal (he presence and suffuse tileatmosphere of anything worthy of tile accolade art: a persuasive poster,a painting, an elegant room, a Gothic cathedral, or a simple utensil.

F!VIII {.fIScaIIX to BrooklYIi Design HistoryOne cannot deprecate the contributions made by such men as Goudy,Rogers, Dwiggins, Cleland, etc.To say,however, that any of these menare creative in the vernacular of the twentieth century is certainly anerror in classification. for these men, who are perpetuating the past, arein a sense, historians .. .. [They] have made little or no contributionto the understanding of the plastic arts in relation to our new, dynamicconception of space.

Americrlll Printer "Whar is'Modern' l '; 'pography ," 1948

CreativityThe role of the imagination is to create new meanings and to discoverconnections that, even if obvious, seem to escape detection. Imaginationbegins with intuition, not tile intellect.

F r om L a sc nu x t o B r oo l il 'l I


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20 Paul Rand: A Designer 's Words

Most ofus are perhaps tOO depend em on our elders and are inclinedto glorify almost anything that has been done before, simply because ithas preceded us in terms of time.

1 1m e ri a m P r in t er "What is'Modern' 'l)'pography?" 1948

StyleA style is the consequence ofrecurrent habits, restraints, or rulesinvented or inherited, written or overheard, intuitive or preconceived.

MGA J ou rn a ! "Good Design Is Good Will" 1987

NostalgiaSentimentality provides only a momentary response to a work of art;nostalgia provides a momentary escape from reality

F n nn l as ca io : t o R !Y J {) /: /Y II

It has never been my belief thar the designer who confined himselfto "modernism," realism, traditionalism, or plain old-fashioned fuddv-duddyism was justified in considering his favored style of design theperfect medium for any problem that came along.The style of design isoften determined by the particular problem of the advertiser. Althoughmy preference isin the direction of "modernism," I firmly believethat the taste.jngenuity, and integrity of the designer determine gooddesign, and these factors overshadow the question of "style."l j' P e 1 ; 1 1 1 ., .1 '"The Story of a Symbo l" Mav 1949

It is a mistake to think thar the modern typographer does not havea healthy respect for tradition.

Am e r ic a n P r i nt e r "What is'Modern'Typogruphy?" 1948

TimelessnessYoulook at most of the work of Lissitzky, it doesn't look dated. AndI'm not talking about that poster with the two heads. 'That was I O l l S Yfrom the first day that it was done, except that it was powerful. Visuallyit was a repulsive idea. But good work has a universal and timelesscharacter. I mean, Bruegel and Titian and Mozart, they're not dated 1As against, for example, the English Pre-Raphaelites. It's very skillful.BUtthe whole thing makes you sick.


The great art style of any period is that which relates to the true insightofits time. But an age may repudiate its real insights, retreat to theinsights of the past - which, though not its own, seem safer to act upon.

/\.Critique of the 1941lAlGA Fifrv Books Show

One quickly realizes that simplicity and geometry are the language oftimelessness and universality.

F r om L a sc ar o: t o B r o {) k (l '1 I

Advertising1 \ / 1 1 ' orientation is strictly formal; that is, an. It is not advertising and notbusiness. When I do a job, if I want to think of somebody; I never thinkof an advertising guy.

lnrcrvicw with George Lois 1986

TrendsPeople latch on to trends, and it has nothing to do with real problems.It's something that's superimposed on a problem. It has to do with beingpart of the scene, or doing what is the latest thing (0do.

Interview with Steven Heller T 9 R H


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22 I 'n,,1 R"oJ: A Designers WorJ , 23 Pa, ,1 Rand- A Dcsigncr's WorJs

Bringing to fruition new ideas and forms is not only arduous but lessrewardingly glamorous than was participation in the original dramaticand dynamic insurgence. Consequently, many designers and typo-graphers have shirked this task. Some who originally accepted this taskhave since abandoned it. Some have contracted the "revolutionaryhabit" of novelty-making - indulging in a sort of perpetual juvenilism.Other designers, unable (0escape the "academic habit," have toosoon crystallized the theories of the aesthetic revol ution into a setof rules and dogma.

l j rpogmphic{l5 "Modern l:vpography inthe Modern World" 1952

Idon't consider myself a huckster. I consider myself somebody whocontributes something to the quality of life.

Interview with George Lois 1 ')86

T o see the commercial artist as nothing bur a pitchman is a little tooglib; the "nothing but" part of it is the part that could be wrong. Whatabout the special skills of the commercial artist, his way with typeand typography, his knowledge of reproduction processes, his designabil ity, his showmanship .. . and, yes, his salesmanship.

Am e ri ca n f in i s! October ]')70

Innovation is the enemy of trendiness, pretense, and timidity. It recog-nizes the genuine from the spurious. It tantalizes the viewer, stimulatesthe mind, intensifies meaning, generates interest, and is at the heartof both better design and better business.

Des i gn Fo rn : ({lid Chao j '

Who knows why a product sells? There are millions of reasons whythings sell that have nothing to do with art or design. If you gavethe consumer a deal - 50 percent off - you'd sell like hell, regardlessof whether it was abstract or concrete.

Interview with Sleven Heller 1y88

ResearchThere is no science in advertising.


... the plethora of bad design that we see all around us can probablybe attributed as much to good salesmanship as to bad caste.

Pal l / R{llId: fI Des i g l l e ! ~ ' /111

The designer is not always right. The researcher is not always wrong.Profit is not always the motive; market research, whatever its outcome,should never be used as a good excuse for bad design - in the samesense that good design should never be used (0promote a bad product.

Des /g l ! Fo rm dl ld Chao s

Means and MethodsI never actually operated like an art director except in rare cases."Most of the work I did myself.

Interview with Sleven Heller 1987

Commercial ArtYou're not doing museum stuff; whatever you're doing should com-municate, so the guy on the street should know what the heck you'recrying (0sell. Interview with Steven T-leller19H7

I have never known what to charge. Every t ime 1 charge something,it's sort of a guessing game.



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24 PaLilRand: A Designers \Vords

Copywriters hated me because most of (he time 1 disagreed withthem. They'd corne in with their yellow pad and a rough layout . ..like I was a printer on Pitkin Avenue. And I refused. Marry timesIven refused to use their copy because Ihought it was lousy, andI'd rewri te the headline. J never bothered with the text.


CreditIlways insisted on signing my work. Iemember being called intoBill' s [\Veintraub] office one day: There was the first Dubonnet ad Isigned, and he wanted me to take my name off so that the glow-wouldnot be on me - it would be on the agency Iaid, "Bill , this is youragency; you take my name off, and you can take it off your register, (00-I 'm getting OUL" And he didn't take it off If a client bad wanted it off,that's something else.

Interview with Steven Heller 1987People think in very simple, literal ways. If you're talking about cereal ,you show a mother and her little kid eating cereal. What's more appro-priate? But IS that the best way to sell cereal? Maybe it is. I doubt it.Dramatizing a bowl of cereal, and dramatizing the luscious cornflakes isa lot more convincing than just showing a mother and child eatingcereal. The ramifications of marketing are too complicated for a simplemind like mine to delve into. Ihink you have to deal 'with a psycholo-gist or a sociologist, and even they would give you a lot of guesses,

Tnterview with Steven Heller [988

I signed [my work] simply as a way of publicizing myselfInterview with Steven Heller (987

vVilliam BernbachBill [BernbachJ understood the designer, what his role was, and let himdo his job ~ he looked at that big picture. That's not a bad picture.

Interview with George Lois 1986The Client

... [m]any times "it's too modern" sirnply means that tile client does notknow what he is really objecting to,

D a e da il is . J o ur n a! o f t h e l\men'('(lllllmricIIIY of Ar t . r t lm i Se renaSpecial Issue: "The Visual Arts Today" Winter 1960

The myth is that he taught me everything [hat I knowInterview with Steven l Icller 1987

Design Fimll {{l idCi l f los

PresentationIever make a presentation personally. Isually send it in tile mail ...because if it's going to be rejected I don't want to be there. But moreimportantly, Ihink that tile thing has to stand on its own merits.I've seen skillful presentations made by people doing terrible work ....People spend money making presentations with three-dimensionalthings and lights and theatrical effects, dancing girls and music ....

Al10gmph No,6, 1988

What the designer and his client have in common is a license to prac-tice without a license.

Ielieve that design quality is proportionately related to the distancethat exists between the designer and the management at the top.The closer this relationship, the more likely chances are for a meaningfuldesign. D e si gn F o rm {flld C h o o _ , A presentation is the musical accompaniment of design. A presentation

that lacks an idea cannot hide behind glamorous photos, pizzazz, orbally hoo. DesigllHmlll1lld C h a o s


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26 1 ,: >, ,1 R an d: A D e s ig n er 's W o rd , 27 P a L L I Rand: , \ Designer's Words

Corporate ImageUnless it consistently represents the aims and beliefs as "veilas tiletotal activity and production ofa company, a corporate image is at bestmere window dressing, and at worst deception.

Pm i l R a n d : 11 Designer': Ar t

RodentsThe Direc t i on cover, tile one with the rat-face of Hitler, was a prettynice drawing. I hated to do it because I hate rats and I hated Hitler.But it.was a rat with a Hitler moustache.

Interview with Steven Heller [988

A trademark is not merely a device to adorn a letterhead, [0stamp on aproduct, or to insert at tile base ofan advertisement; nor one whosesole prerogative is to imprint itself by dint ofconstant repetition on themind of the consumer public. The trademark is a potential illustrativefeature of unappreciated vigor and efficacy, and when used as suchescapes its customary fate of being a boring restatement of the identityof the product's maker. When fully exploited the trademark can activelystimulate interest in the product or brand.

11lt ' Ii n d em a r i: a s a n Ittustmtn Deo tce

CollageCollage is a very ingenious kind of method of working because itabbreviates the time it takes to express a meaning by the process ofjuxtaposition. Ifyou want to say something quickly, collage isavery good method and stylistically it's always terrific even if you'rea lousy designer. FITNer!J/}od ' Spring [994

A trademark, which is subject to an infinite number ofuses, abuses,and variations ... cannot survive unless it is designed with utmostsimplicity and restraint ....

In one sense montage and collage are integrated visual arrangementsin space, and in another sense, absorbing visual tests which the spectatormay perceive and decipher for himself. He may thus participatedirectly in the creative process.

P( l lt ! RO I l t/ : A iJfsigll l 'r' ,J' Ari

H m l R tw d: it Des igne r ' : Art TypographyThe history ofthe typographic arts inAmerica isthe history of a strugglebetween the craftsman and the creative artist, between commonsense and sentimentality, tradition and progress, prejudice and tolerance.

Penrose Ali/lila! "Paul Rand : A Com mentary on Modern and'Iraditicnal 'Ivpography inAmerica" 1949

There are as many reasons for designing a new logo,or updating an oldone, as there are opinions. The belief that a new or updated design will ,like a talisman, magically turn around any business is not uncommon.A redesigned logomay have the advantage of implying something new,something improved - but [his boost is temporary unless the companylives up to these dreams.

D e si gi l F o n n (flld ChiiOI

If in the business of communications, "image is king," the essence ofthis image, the logo, isthe jewel in its crown.

D es ig ll F o nn a lld C h ao s

The difference between modern and traditional typography is not thedifference between apples and oranges, It is more like the differencebetween Granny Smith and Golden Delicious,

11fGil .lonrna! "Good Design Is Good Will" [987


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28 Paul Rand: A Desi gners \Vmus 29 Paul Rand: A Designer's "nrJ.'

Disputes arising between the two schools of typographic thought, thetraditional on the one hand and the modern on the other, are, it seemsto me, the fruits of misplaced emphasis. I believe the real differencelies in the way "space" is interpreted: that is, the wayan image is placedon a sheet ofpaper. Such incidental questions as the use ofsans-seriftypefaces, lowercase letters, ragged settings, primary colors, etc., are atbest variables that.tend merely to sidetrack the real issue.

T h ou g ht s o n D e s/ if l!

AsymmetryAsymmetric balance creates greater reader interest. Pleasure derivedfrom observing asymmetrical arrangements lies partly in overcomingresistances, which, consciously or not, the spectator adjusts in hisown mind. American Prin ter "What is'ModernTypography?" 1948

If statistics were available, it is reasonable to estimate that in theUnited States the traditional typographer outnumbers the moderntypographic artist by rooo to I.

P e n r o s e AlIIlI/a! "Paul Rand: A Commentary on Modern and'Iiadirional rr)'pography in America" 1949

ComputersThe bigproblem is that the speed with which this machine operates isso fast that the normal contemplative time that one needs to doa design that makes any sense is nor there. When you're sitting anddrawing you make a stroke and you fill in areas.There's a time elementinvolved. But with the computer, that time element does not exist.It takes up your physical, spiritual, and psychological time and yourdesign time isjust not there.

F f T . N et @ 'o r /c Spring [994I know people who have religiously used only sans serif,who suddenlyswitched toTimes Roman. Now, the reason they switched toTimesRoman isfor the same reason they used sans serif.They consideredsans serif very functional, devoid of doodads and ringlets and hair curlers.. . .There is no typeface that is more reasonable than Times Roman.But let's face it, Times Roman is ugly,especially in the big sizes.

Interview with Steven I Idler 1988

It's dancing before you can walk. It's doing all kinds of tricks thatare useless tricks just for the sake of doing the tricks, not for the sakeof solving the problem .

Interview with Sleven Heller 1


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30 Pa u'I Rand; t\ Designcr's Word, 3 1 Pau 1 Ron J: l\ Designer" Word,

Thoughts on DesignI resisted that whole business. Iaid Iwasn't a wri ter . So the publisherhired a free-lance writer who came up to the house one day and wesat down and talked. Iwas talking about all the concepts, and she said,"You don't need me. Why don't you just do ir yourself?" And I did.

Tnterview with S le v en H e ll er 1987

SourcesBooks by Paul Rand

T ho u gl lt s o n D e si g , Studio Vista Van Nostrand Reinhold Art Paperback, 1970(Original edition Wittenborn Schultz, 1946)P al ll R an d. A D es ig lle rs flIt" YaleUniversity Press, 1985DesigN Form an d Chaos , YaleUniversity Press, 1993F ro m L as ca ux 10 Hrook lY I l , YaleUniversity Press, 1996

Iid the book because I am a very practical guy, and I knew this wasone way to have all your work in one place, so if you ever run into a fireyou don't have to worry about your samples!


A Designer's ArtMy interest has always been in restating the validity of those ideaswhich, by and large, have guided artists since the time of Poiyclirus.I believe that it is only in the application of those timeless principles thatone can even begin co achieve a semblance of quality in one's work.It is the continuing relevance of these ideals that I mean (Q emphasize,especially to those who have grown up in a world of punk and graffiti.

P a ll l R a n : A D e ,r ig ll lf r: , A rt

Articles by Paul RandB oo l' B in din g a nd B oo k P ro du aio n; Problems in Book Design, No. 99, October 1945PM (daily newspaperj.April 20 1947Whal i s " il lo d em " 7 j' jJ o gr ap h yP American Printer, 1948A Critique ofthe 1948AlGA Fifty Books Show (source unknown)P a ll l R a ll d: A C O ?t lJ fl fl lt ar y Of}Mode I ' II f l ll d Tmd i t i o ll a l lj l p ogmp l l J' ill Amer iw ,Penrose Annual, 1949Th e StO!}' o j a S ym bo l, ~Iype T alk s, M a y 1949lV /or /e lY l D ' j Jogmpl t ) , ill t h e M o d em H0rkl, 'Ivpographica 5, 1952T h e 1 /v d em a r k a s f ln l ll ll st m ti '{ .) C Deoia ; Paul Thcobold and Company, !952Art in Advertising, August 1954Paul R and : Ideas a b ou t Ideas, lD , 1955T he A rt o f I he P ac ka ge , Print, 1960Th e l '1 : ,l I alA r t s Today; Daedalus, Journal of the Amcrican Academy ofArts

and Sciences (with Ann Rand), Wimer 1960American Artist, October 1970Politics (! f Design , Graphis, 1981G oo d D esign fs Go od l V i / / . AlGA Journal, 1987Artograph, No.6, 1988FIT Network, Vol.4,NO.3. Spring 1994Unpublished addendum to From Lascaux 10 B ro o k/ pI , 1 99 6

[mer views with Paul RandInterview wid. George Lois 1986Interviews with Steven IIcller 1987, 1988Paul R aNd : Th e P la y f l ls t il l ct , Graphic Wit (Watson Guptil). 1991Lecture, iI a ul R an d Ra r o s p e au ; Cooper Union, Ocr 3 1996

Photograph by Hans Namuth

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