Steve Jobs on Paul Rand - 1993

Paul Rand is known in the graphic design community as being one of the greatest identity designers ever. He is responsible for logos including IBM, UPS, Westinghouse, ABC and NeXT where Steve Jobs hired him.

The interview shown here highlight Jobs' admiration for the great designer and shows his high regard for design which shows in the products and software Apple produces today.

In a book called "Design, Form an Chaos", Rand shared the following insights.

"A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon, a street sign. A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies. A logo is rarely a description of a business. A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it represents is more important than what it looks like. The subject matter of a logo can be almost anything."

“Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes. If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned.”

"Ultimately, the only mandate in the design of logos, it seems, is that they be distinctive, memorable, and clear."