Thoughts on Paul Rand

http://acg.media.mit.edu/acg/events/rand/ideamag.html

by dirtyaura • 14 years ago

123 34 14 years ago

acg.media.mit.edu

raintrees• 14 years ago

Thanks, it's nice to have something positive to start the day.

cschmidt2• 14 years ago

A wonderful man. I followed everything he wrote for many years. To this day, I do a double take when I see Congressman Rand Paul in the press, and then feel disappointed.

AVTizzle• 14 years ago

I actually just did the reverse, clicking on the link wondering what political context this was going to be in. Relieved to realize my mistake.

10dpd2• 14 years ago

"At the time I was building a reputation for myself as being a gifted graphical user interface designer."

What products has John Maeda designed that we can use or have used in the past?

Writing books is great, but its the practical application that really builds reputations.

carlio• 14 years ago

I found it hard to read past the first paragraph after that sentence, to be honest.

matthewgifford5• 14 years ago

You're seriously going to stop reading what someone has to say simply because he mentioned that he worked on building his reputation? Your loss.

stevewillows2• 14 years ago

He's recognized more for his influence on tech and art rather than his name on a specific product. You might say that he was in the right place at the right time with the right interests.

The line has a sense of arrogance. Although it is true, it might not need the mention.

gb• 14 years ago

I didn't read it is arrogance, he's contrasting the praise he was receiving at the time with his own opinion of Paul Rand's genuis.

tptacek• 14 years ago

Exactly what is the point of this comment?

10dpd2• 14 years ago

The point is to find out which products John Maeda has worked on?

stephth3• 14 years ago

This list is a good place to start: http://www.maedastudio.com/index.php

I would rather not show you specific examples and risk generalizing his work, but I don't want to drown your interest under perhaps too many choices, so I suppose I would point to his different advertisement pieces for Shiseido (interactive and print) as an introduction. (Search for images with the terms John Maeda Shiseido and crawl your way in.)

If anyone is really interested in his work (and if you do UI-related work dare I say, you probably want to be), I'd recommend the book "Maeda @ Media", it's a great guide through his earlyish work and process.

ThomPete• 14 years ago

He has produced among others Casey Reas and Ben Fry who later went on to create Processing.

Maeda is an artist before he is an engineer so what he creates is more experiments using code.

disordinary2• 14 years ago

You'd think someone who lectures design wouldn't have such a crappy blog.

disordinary2• 14 years ago

Or website sorry, wasn't a blog but a website for Asthetics + Computer group at MIT.

SteveJS• 14 years ago

Discovering someone who is clearly a giant, in a field about which I am ignorant, is my favorite thing about Hacker News.

I anticipate good reading ahead: http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/thoughts/#articles

cschmidt2• 14 years ago

You're in for a treat. Paul Rand's books like "Design, Form, and Chaos" are great.

Also, the book "Paul Rand" by Stephen Heller is well worth reading.

www.amazon.com/Paul-Rand-Steven-Heller/dp/0714839949

michaelpinto• 14 years ago

Steve Jobs on Paul Rand http://youtu.be/xb8idEf-Iak

naturalethic• 14 years ago

The only effect I've seen from the word "talent" is to convince some people they'll never be good at anything. I really hate that word and the pretensious jerks who use it.

dasil003• 14 years ago

On the other hand, people who never say anything that pisses someone off probably don't accomplish much of interest.

drostie• 14 years ago

One great story about Paul Rand:

    "He is one of the most professional people I've ever worked with, in
    the sense that he thought through all of the formal relationship 
    between a client and a professional such as himself -- obviously very 
    deep thoughts about this -- and therefore he had very clear conclusions 
    about what the relationship meant to both parties and how it should be 
    conducted. For example: I asked him if he would come up with 'a few
    options'. And he said 'No, I will solve your problem for you. And you 
    will pay me. And you don't have to use the solution -- if you want 
    options go talk to other people! -- but I'll solve your problem for you
    the best way I know how, and you use it or not, that's up to you, you're 
    the client -- but you pay me.' And there was a clarity about the
    relationship that was refreshing."
      -- Steve Jobs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak

I really enjoyed his uncompromising attitude, "I'm not going to attempt to solve the problem 4 times for you; you can consult 4 people who wholeheartedly attempt to solve the problem once." The idea that art is not something to be half-assed but something to be pursued, as the Tibetans might say, "one-pointedly", is a deep lesson which I myself resonate very strongly with.

chimi2• 14 years ago

There can be problems with this approach, specifically, "The best way I know how" may not be the best way for the client. There are pros and cons with nearly every potential solution and it can be beneficial to discuss the pros and cons of more than one solution with the client before proceeding. It's arrogant to assume the best way you know how is the best way for the client.

For example, if you only know Ruby and the client is a PHP shop and you implement a solution for them in Ruby anyway, that could cause more problems than it is worth in the long run.

stephth3• 14 years ago

A lot of problems between designer/client arise from miscommunication. It's not a problem that comes from this approach.

If the designer knows what she's doing, she just needs to know all the relevant factors.

matthewgifford5• 14 years ago

"It's arrogant to assume the best way you know how is the best way for the client."

That's not what he's saying. He's saying that he's going to try as hard as he can to come up with what he thinks is the best solution to the problem. It may not be the best, but it's the best he can come up with. It's better than someone who comes up with five options, then leaves it up to the client to make the wrong decision.

I just don't understand the aversion to expertise that's so common these days. Have some fucking pride in what you do well. And trust that other people know their shit, too.

Confusion• 14 years ago

As your comment shows, "the best way you know how" when applied to yourself includes the realization that a PHP solution might be better for a PHP shop. Throw in another bunch of such realizations and a life long effort to actually come up with such realizations and you will understand why Paul Rand's approach is acceptable. He set out to solve Apple's problem. Not his initial and naive conception of their problem. He first made sure he understood their problem.

nottombrown• 14 years ago

Both Maeda and Rand are legends. Ironic that poor design of the ACG site clashed so much with the content of the article.

Notes to self:

    In QA format, place the answers close to the questions they correspond to.

    Be consistent in placing initials before dialog.

sktrdie• 14 years ago

Is it just me or is everything he says very abstract? Sure he's good at his craft, but all the things about everything being subjective, and design having many meanings, and that anything can be artistic... it just seems like he has very generic sort of explanations for everything.

I guess to be a good designer you have to have this attitude, but in today's business, the sort of attitude where you're like "I'll show you a single logo, and you won't have other options" won't cut it.

Design is subjective and it will always be, so not giving your client many options is just plain stupid and will make you poor before you know it.

Thoughts on Paul Rand

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