Paul Rand was talented and prolific. He was a graphic designer beginning in the 1930′s in NYC. Rand worked in advertising and branched into designing book jackets and children’s book illustration, as well as teaching at Yale. Here’s a book that documented his life in graphic design: Paul Rand by Steven Heller.

Heller writes a nice biography of Rand that helps to put his work in historical context. I especially liked that Heller often includes a sentence or two about each example of Rand’s work because he often has a blurb that adds a lot of info. Accompanying an advertisement for his employer William H. Weintraub & Co., Heller writes:

The agency desperately wanted to win the lucrative RCA account, and Rand learned that its Chairman, General Sarnoff, knew Morse Code.  For this one-time full-page ad, Rand’s sublime solution was to use Morse Code glyphs to grab the General’s attention. The agency did not get the business, but the ad made history.

The ad, needless to say, involved a bunch of giant dots and dashes along with several lines of text. Winetraub & Co.’s name and address are at the bottom of the page, and a giant dot and dash on-end appear behind the word ‘Advertising’, making them look as though they’re an enormous exclamation point.

I hate to always be so picky, but I’ve got to say that this book not what it could be– not that I’m an expert on Rand, but I don’t think Heller picked the cream of the crop for examples of Rand’s work.  Having said that, it’s still a book worth looking at. Better yet, it’s a book to read and whet your appitite for Rand designs. Because they’re all over the place. Of course you konw the UPS logo? Rand designed it…IBM, ABC, Colorforms, Westinghouse, all of them and more…