Leiana Henson - Poster

Biography of Paul Rand
Paul Rand was born Peretz Rosenbaum in Brooklyn, NY on August 15, 1914, and unfortunately, he died due to cancer on November 26, 1996. He was best known for his corporate logo designs (ABC,IBM,UPS), and he helped to create the Swiss Style of graphic design. In 1974 he taught design at Yale University, and he was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. When Rand began his career, he decided to shorten his name from Peretz Rosenbaum to Paul Rand in order to lose the Jewish stigma that was associated with it. Not only did Rand do graphic design, he also painted, gave lectures, did industrial design, and he also did advertising. Through all of those, he drew his knowledge and creativity from the resources of the USA.

He was a designer who thought in terms of need and function, and he kept his graphic design to a simplistic style that provided just the right effect. Paul Rand was more than anyone else, someone who made the profession of graphic design reputable. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rand

Reason for Choosing Paul Rand
I chose Paul Rand as my designer for this project for several reasons. First of all, he innovated graphic design to how we know and love it today. I really like how most of his designs took a simple yet effective approach, and I would like to improve my designs to be able to accomplish this when requested. Paul Rand also introduced the Swiss Style of graphic design, and I found that fascinating. Paul Rand was also an extremely versatile designer, and he not only could create effective graphic design, but he also painted, gave lectures, wrote, and was part of the advertising world as well. I thought that was very unique about him as a designer, and thus, the main reason why I chose him to be my graphic designer
for this assignment.

What I liked about the project
I think I personally got a lot out of this project. The main reason why I liked this project is it taught me about a very important graphic designer, and before this, the only designer I knew hardly anything about was Andy Warhol. I also liked how interpretive the assignment was for each person.