PAUL RAND (1914-1996)
245
●
IBM. 1982.
36x24 inches, 91
1
/
2
x61 cm.
Condition A / A-: creases in lower left corner; minor abrasions in image. Paper.
Rand was first employed by IBM in 1956 to redesign the company’s logo. He continued consulting
for the company for more than 30 years, redesigning their logo at least twice more. In 1981, to
announce the in-house IBM Golden Circle award, he designed a rebus version of the logo which was
initially shunned by management who “thought that it would be an invitation to in-house designers
to engage in tomfoolery. They also claimed it was not IBM and failed to recognize that in one fell
swoop Rand had humanized the corporation” (Rand, p. 156). It took a year for the company to
actually use the design in promotion, at which point they printed it as a poster with small text at the
bottom explaining the significance of each element of the rebus. It has become one of the most famous
and recognizable corporate identity statements of the 20th century. MOMA 520.1983, Modern Poster
211, Encyclopedie de l’Affiche p. 106, Modern American Poster 100.
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