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Found footage: 1993 Steve Jobs interview on Paul Rand

Paul Rand may not be a familiar name or face to many, but he created the public face of many of the world's most well-known companies. ABC Television, IBM, UPS and NeXT are a few of the many companies that Rand designed a logo for.

While Rand didn't design the current Apple logo (which is a derivative of the multicolored Apple logo designed by Rob Janoff), his work is well respected in Apple circles. When Apple launched its "Think Different" campaign, it chose to feature Paul Rand on a print ad.

Steve Jobs spoke of his admiration of Rand during a 1993 interview with Doug Evans and Alan Pottasch. To give some perspective, 1993 saw the changing of the guard at Apple from John Sculley to Michael Spindler. Jobs was CEO of NeXT at the time, which was busy porting the NeXTSTEP operating system for x86 processors.

Known for his attention to detail and treating Apple employees as "artists" -- and verbally berating them if their work didn't meet his expectations -- Jobs called Paul Rand "a gem." "[Paul is] a pure artist that is very astute at solving business problems," Jobs said in the interview.

But the most interesting moment of the interview comes when Jobs is asked his opinion on Rand's work. Jobs spoke of the emotional, yet intellectual nature of Paul Rand's designs. "When you scratch the surface of any of his work, you find out the depth of the intellectual problem solving that's taken place."

While this statement took place 17 years ago, during which Jobs was away from Apple, it also reflects the ideal of Apple's current products. While the industrial design of Apple hardware will draw the attention of many, this design is shaped by the software beneath it and the anticipated interaction the user has with it.

Paul Rand died in 1996, three years after this interview. However, his legacy lives on, as many of the timeless logos he's designed continue in existence today.



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Apple History

Paul Rand may not be a familiar name or face to many, but he created the public face of many of the world's most well-known companies. ABC...
 

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wuhoo

I forwarded this video to my boss who was actually a student and friend of Paul Rand and worked at NeXT as the Design Director under Steve Jobs. He was quite familiar with both their personalities and loved the video, and thought that it truly reflected both Steve and Paul.

March 25 2010 at 5:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Macaday


He was very astute and forward looking when he designed that Enron logo - it did indeed 'fall over'…!

March 25 2010 at 4:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
W.

If anyone is interested I have an autographed Paul Rand NeXT Education poster I'd be willing to sell. Still in it's original tube. However, don't expect it to be cheap.

March 25 2010 at 2:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to W.'s comment
Stan

I bid 2 kg.

March 25 2010 at 3:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
W.

2kg of what?

March 26 2010 at 10:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sky

...his legacy lives on, as many of the timeless logos he's designed continue in existence today.

I think it is funny that this is stated right after putting examples of his work that include NeXT and Enron - both of which don't exist today.

March 25 2010 at 2:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
twoeightnine

"but he created the public face of many of the world's most well-known companies. ABC Television, IBM, UPS and NeXT"

One of these things is not like the others...

March 25 2010 at 2:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alex

Chubby Steve!

March 25 2010 at 1:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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