Alexis Blanco

Ms. Kehoe
Computer Graphics
14 October 2014
Computer Graphics
Paul Rand was an American graphic designer who was one of the first American commercial
artists to use the Swiss Style of graphic design. Paul attended Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design,
and the Art Students League. He also taught at Yale University from 1959 to 1969 and also in 1974. Paul
started his career at a young age, designing posters for his fathers grocery store and for school events.
He is most known for his corporate business logo designs such as: UPS, IBM, ABC, Enron, and
Morningstar.
Paul had to overcome many obstacles such as: his father disapproving of his talents because he
believed art could not provide him with a sufficient life, he had to teach graphic design to himself from
magazines and books because his father would not pay for art school, and he grew up in a strict
Orthodox Jewish home that forbids the creation of images that can be worshipped as idols, but he still
copied images of models from magazines and advertisements, breaking the law. He was born under the
name Peretz Rosebaum, but changed his name after getting his first job, thinking that a Jewish name
may slow his career down.
His first jobs were mostly freelance for Apparel Arts (a mens fashion line,) Esquire
Magazine, and Directions (a cultural magazine.) At the end of the 1930s, Paul became the chief art-
director at Esquire Magazine. He enjoyed using simpler but eye-catching fonts in his ads. He explained
that he never went over the top; he just did enough so people would know what the ad was for. At the
end of World War II, Paul began making logos for big companies such as ABC, IBM, UPS, Cummins
Engine, and Westinghouse. He made trademarks until the day he died at the age of 82, on November 26,
1996. He is known as the link between European modern art and American commercial art.