Designer's Best Pick: Paul Rand

Paul Rand is one of my favorite graphic designers.  Before becoming an interior designer, I was in charge of hiring graphic designers for one of my original companies - an ad and marketing agency.  This is where I was first introduced to Rand's work and fell in love with it.  His seemingly simple designs became powerful corporate icons and to his own point "a logo cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint."  I found myself inspired by his modernist work.

Fast forward to today and all of that inspiration came rushing back at a recent expo highlighting his work.  Graphic design is an amazing art and Paul Rand is top of the class.  His portfolio is chock full of iconic logo designs like Kleenex, IBM, Girl Scouts of America, ABC, UPS - to name a few.  Even as a follower of his work, I was amazed at how many of his logos I see almost daily.

I will always have a special love of graphic design from my days in the ad world.  I still touch on it a bit in our commercial properties with "way finding" signage and always marvel at how the right combination of simplicity, understanding and strength can create such lasting impressions.  Paul Rand's commitment to modernism and philosophy of design have truly made their mark on the design world.