On August 15th, 1914, Peretz Rosenbaum was born to an Orthodox Jewish home in Brooklyn, New York.
Peretz Rosenbaum would grow up to become an icon in the field of graphic design, better known as Paul Rand.

"...Rand did not set out to reform graphic design, he just wanted to be the best at what he did. Reared in the commercial art production departments — or `bullpens' — of New York's publishing and advertising industries, he understood the demands of the marketplace and accepted that design was a service not an end, or an art, in itself. Yet he was critical of the poor aesthetic standards that prevailed, maintaining that everyday life — especially commercial art — could be enriched by the artist's touch. He modelled himself on avant-garde artists, such as painter Paul Klee, designer El Lissitzky and architect Le Corbusier, each of whom advocated a timeless spirit in design..."
—excerpt from Paul Rand monograph by Steven Heller


In my small collection of Paul Rand related items, I have a book that is said to be from Paul Rand's personal library. The first edition copy of Modern Book Design by Ruari McLean (c.1951), has a personalized inscription and an extra notation in the index. The pencil notations are from Helen Federico. When I purchased the book the seller provided this note about the history:

Helen Federico worked in Weintraub & Co.'s art department (1943-1951) under Paul Rand. And the Rands (Paul and Anne) and the Federicos (Helen and Gene) dined regularly together. Helen Federico would be a major source for Steve Heller's Paul Rand monograph. Gene Federico worked for Doyle Dane Bernbach (1951-54) and he went on to create a substantial body of work and received many graphic design honors.




Here is a book jacket design and a couple of paperback cover designs by Paul Rand.





In 1941 Paul Rand designed the logo for the Coronet brand. I'm not sure of the date for the below giant brandy snifter featuring Paul Rand's design and illustrative character logo.



more links about Paul Rand:
Paul Rand's Book Jackets and Covers / SVA MFA Designer as Author video
Identity Presentation for American Express design / Paul-Rand.com
Paul Rand's Final Logo? / Speak Up
1972 Hall of Fame: Paul Rand / Art Directors Club
History of Modern Design: Graphics and Products since the Industrial Revolution / Google Books
Portraits of Paul Rand / Paul-Rand.com
Remembering Paul Rand / Design Observer
Paul Rand modern graphic design fan club / flickr
Video of Steven Heller & Paul Rand interview / youtube
Paul Rand / RIT Graphic Design Archive
Paul Rand in Pink / Inspiration Resource
Paul Rand, Anti-War, Pro-Typographer / A Journey Round My Skull
Paul Rand Obituary from 1996 / The New York Times
Objectify Me: Steven Heller on Paul Rand's can / Objectified
Paul Rand's Children's Books / Daddy Types
Sparkle and Spin by Ann and Paul Rand / Chronicle Books
Paul Rand book covers / Scott Lindberg on flickr
The Trademark as an Illustrative Device / Paul-Rand.com
Paul Rand: Conversations with Students / Google Books
Steve Jobs on Paul Rand's NeXT logo video / youtube
Papa Logo / Metropolis
Designer Paul Rand Speaks at Media Lab / MIT
Paul Rand timeline (1914-1996) / Paul-Rand.com

Shigeo Fukuda / Fukuda San (1932 – 2009) 

Louis Dorfsman (1918-2008)

Earlier this year I saw the colorful Alexander Girard Alphabet Blocks created by House Industries (a beautiful collaboration between them and the Alexander Girard estate).

Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Phaidon'€™s massive monograph (about 20 pounds) on the multi-faceted designer and architect, LeCorbusier, will be released on July 2, 2008. The beautiful, but heavy book (in the style of Warhol “Giant Size”) comes in a slipcase and includes a supplementary book of translations and transcriptions for all the original documents archived within the book. Le Grand was compiled by the Phaidon editors and includes an intro essay by Jean-Louis Cohen.

The monograph is packed with rare photographs, urban plans, sketches, and letters between Le Corbusier and other prominent design figures.


Sketches of the Grand Comfort Chair be Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, page 195


Cover, Des Canons, des munitions?, page 318


Le Corbusier with a Modular-related model, page 376


Schematic drawing for Unité (1946), page 413


Living and dining areas of Mason A, page 681

Julia Hasting designed the book.

A small set of very nicely designed General Dynamics ads by Erik Nitsche have been added to an already great body of his design work on flickr.

(Thank you to flickr users Derrick and Katie from BustBright for creating this visual resource)

Vintage video clip from 1962 Yves Saint Laurent fashion show (with English subtitles)

“Eero Saarinen ÂœShaping the Future project at Cranbrook. Eero Saarinen was the son of the celebrated Finnish architect and first President of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Eliel Saarinen.” (Metromode video on YouTube)

In honor of George Nelson’s 100th birthday, Vitra has released a special re-edition (limited to 1,000) of Nelson’s Pretzel Chair (from 1952).




“n the 1950s, George Nelson and his New York office developed a series of individually expressive seating furniture, a number of which have long established themselves as classics. In 1952, predating the famous Coconut Chair or the Marshmallow Sofa, he designed a chair made of moulded plywood originally referred to simply as the “Laminated Chair”. The bold and elegant curve of the seat back and armrest soon earned it the nickname Pretzel Chair...” —from Vitra

The Pretzel Chair is by no means representative of George Nelson’s full body of work. He began his career as an architect. But when there weren’t enough new projects coming in, he turned his creativity and talents towards other areas of design, including graphic, furniture, and interior design. George Nelson was also the Associate Editor of Architectural Forum magazine from 1935-1943.

When I think of George Nelson the first designs that come to mind are his clock designs for Howard Miller (Herman Miller’s brother). The AIGA has a great article on Nelson’s legacy and also showcases the variety in his design portfolio. One of my favorites is his simplistic package design system for Abbott Laboratories (seen below)



excerpt of Articulating the Eye by Judith Nasatir:

“George Nelson was not a graphic designer. He called himself, simply, a designer. He practiced a variety of the so-called design disciplines during his fifty-odd calendar years of ceaseless professional activity. His formal training was in architecture. He became extremely well known as a furniture designer, an industrial designer, an interior designer and exhibition designer. He was in the vanguard of a quiverful of design "disciplines" which were only becoming bona fide professions, or at least ways to make a living, at the same time he began to turn his hand to them. Or when he began to write about them. Or when he began to do the work that proliferated and sneaked in many, often unexpected, directions.”

(all images of the Pretzel Chair seen here are © Vitra Design Museum)

Last week at the Vintage Thrift Shop, I saw the name Jean Carlu on the back of a vintage paperback, No Exit. The name sounded familiar...but I really couldn’t recall anything on this designer/artist. Upon further research, I found Jean Carlu (1900-1997) to be a fascinating person, with a wide-ranging and striking portfolio.



Jean Carlu, Journée nationale de la paix, 1936



In 1941 he received an award for the New York Art Directors Club for his poster, “America’s Answer! Production” (seen above)

excerpt from Smithsonian biography: “Born in Bonnières, France, Jean Carlu came from a family of architects and studied to enter that profession. After an accident at the age of eighteen in which he lost his right arm, Carlu turned to graphic design.”



Gift Packages for Hitler!, from the Early Series by Jean Carlu, 1942, Gift of Container Corporation of America, Smithsonian American Art Museum