Some people ask me who my influences are. So I thought I would start by sharing a few of them every so often. Since I have been dealing a lot with graphic design, I'll start with one of my chief influences in that area.

The late Paul Rand (1914-1996) is chief among the giants of the design field and is still a big influence on my thinking when dealing with design.

Paul Rand is one of those guys people refer to as the ‘everyman’. Looking at him he was pretty nondescript. Talking to him he wouldn’t embellish his remarks to suit his audience. You might think of him as one of those guys you just pass in the street or at the mall. You would never realize this guy was so HUGE in the design world. Every day you see something with this designers work plastered on it. It could be your light bulbs, your toaster, your computer, the delivery truck that stops in your neighborhood or even images on your TV screen. Paul’s work is everywhere, just like the ‘everyman’.

It is all so very simple and unobtrusive that it almost goes unnoticed. Yet when it is pointed out, we all recognize it. His work communicates. It communicates so well it digs deep into our brains and locks in. It hits that ancient part of our communication centers, tapping into the historical collective of man’s need to communicate. You may have noticed companies like, Apple, IBM, ABC, Westinghouse, UPS and many others. And you probably noticed them because of Paul Rand. Not only has he touched the lives of virtually every American, he is in demand worldwide.

How does his work reach us? To quote an over used cliche, he used the "KISS method"or to put it simply, ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’. He was not creating Rocket Science, but he was doing something just as hard. He was creating design with mass universal appeal. He summed it up when he said, “Don’t try to be original, try to be good.”

Rand kept it simple by tapping into ancient design techniques. Just like ancient Chinese scribes who tapered down their communication system for better communication. Or even the early printers who reshaped existing typefaces to simpler more elegant and easily recognizable letter forms. Like the 19th century French artist, Cezanne and Matisse, Rand broke the visuals down to their bare form for greatest ease of communication. He wasn’t showing off his latest Photoshop skills; instead he is communicating for maximum understanding and recognition. Rand said, “Tension, scale, shape, balance, texture, light are the basis for form.” He worked with the raw elements of design. “Simplicity doesn’t come easy,” he said. People think a child could create the work because of its simplicity. They are naive when they do so. “Something that looks very simple takes forever to do,” reinforces Rand in his statement about his style.

People take his abstract forms and imply their own impressions on top of them, thus giving them added appeal. The popular broken lines in the IBM logo so overly copied, appears to be the same simple horizontal stripes found in the American flag, or similar to the shapes formed with lines of type placed on a page. Something IBM supposedly does in their line of work, dealing with blocks of text. The logo he designed for IBM showing an eyeball, a bumble bee, and the letter M is reminiscent of the Rosetta Stone using symbols and letters simultaneously to interpret his message. Not unlike a comic book creator who uses words and pictures to convey his message, Rand says, “When form predominates, meaning is blunted. When content predominates, interest lags. Genius comes in when both parts are used.” It’s the combination of the two elements that make the design sing.

Just like the simple style of UPA animation in the 1950's with their animated hits, “Mr. Magoo” and “Gerald Mc Boing Boing” the simple style allows someone to project their inner thougts onto the visual image. They can then relate to the image with better acceptance. Looking at the artwork on his web site, the ‘books and articles’ piece captures the Chinese abacus in its
imagery. The bee along with the eye shape in the IBM logo, seem to draw from Egyptian hieroglyphics. His ‘Editorial’ icon strongly reminds one of the 1940s jazz era. To make it clear, Rand is a fascinating subject. Like Milton Glaser, (another of my big influences from the design world) he to like Rand draws on history and keeps things simple. Both designers are recognized as two of the most influential designers from the 20th century. And both had their impact on my work and still do. In fact I recommend if you are a student of design or if you just like to know more about creative people Rand is a designer every student or art lover should spend time studying. Paul Rand, a giant in the design field and one of my influences.

Fine out more about Rand's work at:
http://ping.fm/qHeDV