Things I learned from Paul Rand: 17 – A Designer’s Art
One of Paul Rand’s seminal books that is widely considered an essential reading on the topic of graphic design, most likely would have had a different title if it wasn’t for one of his contemporaries who beat him to the punch.
A Designer’s Art
“A Designer’s Art,” by Paul Rand, is considered essential reading for anyone interested in graphic design. It is also one of my favorite books on design.
This book is a comprehensive collection of many of his best and most memorable work, as well as writings.
One time, when we were working together, our conversation turned to the topic about this book. He then suddenly admitted to me he wanted the title of the book to be, “The Art of Graphic Design.” But unfortunately, it was already taken.
The Art of Graphic Design
Bradbury Thompson was one of the legends of 20th century graphic design, recognized by American design organizations such as National Society of Art Directors, AIGA, and Art Directors Hall of Fame.
His approach to graphic design was very different from Paul Rand. Whereas, Paul approached graphic design like a painter, Bradbury Thompson seems to have approached it more like an architect.
He was well known for his designs exploring the 4-color printing with CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). He had a background working for a printer, where he seemed to have developed design and printing techniques. He was also known for new creating design forms using large letter shapes.
Contemporaries
Their paths must have crossed here and there, especially since they were both faculty members at Yale University around the same time.
A little mystery here is that Bradbury Thompson’s book was published in 1988 after Paul Rand’s, which was published in 1985. Since both were published from Yale University Press, I am assuming that Mr. Thompson started to work on his book before Paul, and the press told him to come up with another title.
Nevertheless, although Paul did look a little miffed that his first choice was taken, I remember him also telling me, but that he liked his book title better. So I guess everybody was quite happy in the end.
