Paul Rand, the graphic designer whose work for many years defined our field, died on November 26, 1996. During his long career, he established many of the definitions of the term "graphic designer".

Paul Rand designed a group of logos for important American institutions. These adhered to principles of simplicity, ease of recognition, and absolute appropriateness to their subject matter. Many of them, though decades old, are still in use. These include logos for Westinghouse, UPS, ABC, Next Computer, Yale University, Cummins Engine, and the ubiquitous IBM.

Paul Rand, like Frank Lloyd Wright, another American original, enjoyed a very long career, achieved recognition young, and saw his principles adopted by whole generations of practitioners. Such a long career inevitably passed through greater and lesser periods of influence and recognition, but the work always held up.

Paul Rand's early work was groundbreaking, but it is with the design of these major corporate logos from the mid-point of his career that he distilled the essences of modernity and simplicity for his corporate patrons, and set the standards for the art of the logo. The next screen shows each of the above logos in all their solid power.

These web pages are hosted by DLS Design, Inc., and are offered as a non-commercial tribute. They were originally designed in February 1997, shortly after Paul Rand's death.

Paul Rand's work was an inspiration to our own. In the design of logos and other work for our corporate clients, our goal is to provide design work in his tradition. Corporations in the market for these services are welcome to contact us for a proposal. Return to the DLS Design homepage.