When Paul Rand designed the NeXT logo in 1986 he developed a proposal book for Steve Jobs, that explained the process that led him to the final design. I’m not a fan of the logo, but reading about Rand’s thinking and thought process, and what influenced his decisions, is pretty damn interesting. Damn smart designer, he was.
You can see and read scans of the booklet on Imprint. You can also find some better photos of the book on Paul Rand’s site under “Identity presentations”. Thanks Andrea for the heads-up!
When Paul Rand brought this proposal to Steve Jobs he “presented” it in a very unusual way. Instead of pitching the logo, Rand just slide this book over in front of Steve and watched quietly and he looked through and studied the pages.
Supposedly not a word was said until Steve reached the end and got up and said “You’ve done it.”
One of my professors told me this, I can’t comment on how much of an urban legend it is or isn’t, but it’s a nice story.
In the Imprint article, Heller mentions a similiar story where Rand just dropped off the book and waiting in his hotel room while Jobs reviewed it.
Ben, that certainly does sound like an apocryphal tale, but a nice one nonetheless.
I’m half an half about the NeXT logo. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it.
Mr Rand told a different story to his students, as can be read in the ‘Paul Rand, Conversations with Students’ book — I’ve posted the pages on my blog: http://iancul.com/?p=3504
Best,
Iancu
That is great. Thanks for the link.
My pleasure.
Cheers!
Straight from the man himself! Thank you for the link Iancu!