In this video Paul Rand talks about the interdependency of content and form. Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum, August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs.
Development of a theory
These are alwahys the aspects that interest me most. Rand was very interested in producing books of theory to illuminate his philosophies. Rand devoured books by the leading philosophers on art, including Roger Fry, Alfred North Whitehead, and John Dewey.The importance of Dewey’s Art as Experience, Rand elaborates on Dewey’s appeal:
“ [. . . Art as Experience] deals with everything — there is no subject he does not deal with. That is why it will take you one hundred years to read this book. Even today’s philosophers talk about it[.] [E]very time you open this book you find good things. I mean the philosophers say this, not just me. You read this, then when you open this up next year, that you read something new.”
As is obvious, Dewey is an important source for Rand’s underlying sentiment in graphic design; on page one of Rand’s groundbreaking Thoughts on Design, the author begins drawing lines from Dewey’s philosophy to the need for “functional-aesthetic perfection” in modern art. Among the ideas Rand pushed in Thoughts on Design was the practice of creating graphic works capable of retaining their recognizable quality even after being blurred or mutilated, a test Rand routinely performed on his corporate identities.
