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Jun182007
Paul Rand
As famous designers go, Paul Rand is probably my favorite, his humble attempt to bring grace and style to the ordinary is at the heart of why I (as i’m sure most of us) got into all this graphic design business in the first place.From Impressionism to Pop Art, the commonplace and even the comic strip have become ingredients for the artist’s caldron. What Cezanne did with apples, Picasso with guitars, Léger with machines, Schwitters with rubbish, and Duchamp with urinals makes it clear that revelation does not depend upon grandiose concepts. The problem of the artist is to defamiliarize the ordinary.
I recently stumbled across this great lecture/interview of Paul Rand at an MIT event. It’s a pretty good read, here’s a quick preview:
What is design?
Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple defintions, there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.What is the difference between a designer and an artist?
There is no difference between a designer and an artist. They both work with form and content. I try to create art, whether I make it or not is not up to me, it’s up to God.What is the difference between ‘good’ design and ‘bad’ design?
A bad design is irrelevant. It is superficial, pretentious, … basically like all the stuff you see out there today.What are the fundamental skills of a designer?
The fundamental skill is talent. Talent is a rare commodity. It’s all intuition. And you can’t teach intuition.
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Posted at 10:01 am on 06/19/07
Jay
Paul Rand is great, I recommend checking out his children’s books, too, if you have kids. Very cool.. Our local library, Richland County Public Library, has a few original copies you can check out.
That said, one of my pet peeves is when people attribute their success or talent to being ‘up to God’. Yes, the type of skill he had isn’t something that can be totally taught, and I do believe you either have some sort of innate ability or you don’t. You can call that ‘god-given’ if you want. But the idea that his talent wasn’t refined by years of hard work and experience and in the end it’s just ‘up to God’ seems to belittle his talent and hard work. Because while a number of people may have talent, you have to have the combination of talent and perserverence to set yourself apart.
Posted at 12:46 pm on 06/19/07
Gene
I agree, but maybe I missed something, where did you pick up on that? Or are you just commenting?
Posted at 2:13 pm on 06/19/07
Jay
His second answer… “whether I make it or not is not up to me, it’s up to God.”
Posted at 2:16 pm on 06/19/07
Gene
I hear you.
Somehow this being Paul Rand and knowing the generation that he comes from, it sounds more honest to me somehow…