If you are a designer, or worked with designers, then you probably heard about Paul Rand. Many people consider him the most important graphic designer of all time. Even if you didn’t hear about him, you’d have to live under a rock to not interact with one of his designs. Rand is the designer behind the timeless IBM logo, ABC’s logo, UPS’s previous logo and Steve Jobs’s NeXT logo.
More than being a great designer, Rand was a phenomenal thinker. I’ve had a chance to put my hands on an out of print copy of “Paul Rand – A Designer’s Art”. In this book he shares his thoughts on what the design process should look like, giving examples from various projects he worked on. It’s a masterpiece.
A while ago, I bumped into a booklet he created explaining the thought process behind the creation of the NeXT logo. I’ve never been more excited to read a design presentation. It is so beautiful and smart in its simplicity that it made me shed a tear. Seriously. (I tend to get emotional about good design).
It is not surprising then that two months ago, when it was time to design a logo for Base – our Simple CRM and Sales Tracking App, I went back to this genius NeXT booklet and read it again. Twice. It really helped me think through the process of creating our new logo.
So while Paul Rand is not alive anymore, his spirit was definitely all over the process of creating the Base logo. With deep respect to his NeXT booklet, I put together this presentation to explain my thought process to our team. I decided to share it here as well.
Thanks Paul.
