Things I learned from Paul Rand: 16 – George Lois
During my time working for Paul Rand, he sometimes gave me some of his books. (Usually when he had few of the same books by accident. When you had a huge library, it was really difficult to keep track.) One of them was a Jan Tschichold book I discussed earlier. This time, I want to focus on George Lois.
Advertising Giant
George Lois was literally and physically a giant. (Aside from being a legendary art director, he was also a tall man.) But I never knew about him until I got this beaten up hardcover book from Paul – but it completely changed the way I looked at advertising and design.
Print Ads
Whereas Paul was more of an aesthetes, George was more of a visual idea pioneer. He was a master at creating stories with just few, simplified copies on a printed surface. I think Paul also thought there was a lot I could learn from studying George Lois’ work. He was correct.
Esquire Magazine Covers
Aside from his creative typography, George Lois is perhaps best-known for his Esquire Magazine cover designs he created in the 1960s, with incredibly memorable images, especially for that time in history.
Master of Photo Montage
It is probably quite difficult to imagine today a world without Photoshop. Many of these imageries were created with strong ideas, combined with either tedious skills of hand-cutting image films and piecing them together, and/or working closely together with reliable photographers.
Reminds You of Anyone?
This technique was used as a cover with a foldout, featured LBJ and Hubert Humphrey. But I have a feeling you can find different politicians to fit this mold pretty much at any point in time.
A Big Fan
Mrs. Rand used to tell me how much of an affection George had for Paul. Every time they saw each other, it was said that George would give Paul a big hug, then proceed to kiss him on his forehead. Paul wanted me to meet George sometime, but it never came to be. My big loss.
