Paul Rand    Author profile provided by WorldCat
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1970 (revised); originally published 1947 (Wittenborn), English    List of all editions provided by WorldCat
Nonfiction, Graphic Design
8.5 x 10.75 inches, hardcover, 164 pages, 94 halftone illustrations and 8 color plates
ISBN: 9780289798362

From the Publisher (1947). Rand is aware of the complexity of the designer's function: he stresses this again and again. He has no patience with slickness, with facility; he is a severe critic of the hackneyed and the insincere. All this is dead wood to be cleared away.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, a pioneer typographer, photographer, and designer of the modern movement and a master at the Bauhaus in Weimar, may have come closest to defining the Rand style when he said Paul Rand was "an idealist and a realist using the language of the poet and the businessman. He thinks in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems, but his fantasy is boundless."

On list of 9 Books from the Good Design Movement.

On 3 book lists
Michael Bierut

His first book and still the most concise and accessible.

Tom Geismar

The first Rand book, and still the best.

George Lois

The book that propelled me through the High School of Music and Art.

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Comments about Thoughts on Design

1 comment
1. Dan Shannon 5/22/11 at 8:33 am Flag

I'd love to get hold of this book - does anyone know if it's been reissued or reprinted? I can only find old copies that are going for hundreds of dollars. 

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