When Paul Rand died at age 82, his career had spanned six decades and numerous chapters of design history. His efforts to elevate graphic design from craft to profession began as early as 1932, when he was still in his teens. By the early 1940s, he had influenced the practice of advertising, book, magazine, and package design. By the late 1940s, he had developed a design language based purely on form where once only style and technique prevailed (Heller).
Rand did not set out to be a radical. Trained in the commercial art bullpens of New York City, he thoroughly understood the needs of the marketplace, while at the same time frowning on esthetic standards that impeded functionality. He modeled himself on Paul Klee, El Lissitzky, and Le Corbusier, each of whom advocated a timeless spirit in design, and he adhered to Le Corbusier's dictum that "to be modern is not a fashion, it is a state"(Maeda).
Rand was born Paul Rosenbaum in 1914 in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, and......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 1791
Approximate Pages: 7 (260 words per double-spaced page) |