If you are a designer, or worked with designers, then you probably heard about Paul Rand. Many people consider him the most important graphic designer of all time. Even if you didn’t hear about him, you’d have to live under a rock to not interact with one of his designs. Rand is the designer behind the timeless IBM logo, ABC’s logo, UPS’s previous logo and Steve Jobs’s NeXT logo.

More than being a great designer, Rand was a phenomenal thinker. I’ve had a chance to put my hands on an out of print copy of “Paul Rand – A Designer’s Art”. In this book he shares his thoughts on what the design process should look like, giving examples from various projects he worked on. It’s a masterpiece.

A while ago, I bumped into a booklet he created explaining the thought process behind the creation of the NeXT logo. I’ve never been more excited to read a design presentation. It is so beautiful and smart in its simplicity that it made me shed a tear. Seriously. (I tend to get emotional about good design).

It is not surprising then that two months ago, when it was time to design a logo for Base, I went back to this genius NeXT booklet and read it again. Twice. It really helped me think through the process of creating our new logo.

So while Paul Rand is not alive anymore, his spirit was definitely all over the process of creating the Base logo. With deep respect to his NeXT booklet, I put together this presentation to explain my thought process to our team. I decided to share it here as well.

Thanks Paul.

Forget about Jonathan Ives and Philippe Starck. Dieter Rams is THE father of modern design. The German-born designer studied architecture at Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden and, after a short stint as an architect, joined Braun in 1955. Six years later, he became Braun’s chief of design and for the next 34 years (!!), almost single-handedly, changed the history of product design. He has had a profound impact on the way his company, and the world, think about designing great products.

There’s no chance that you’ll walk around the MoMA and not see a at least one product that Rams designed as many of his seminal works are featured in top museums around the world. As a big advocate of user experience and simplicity, he designed hundreds of products, from cameras to projectors to shelving systems. His motto was “Weniger, aber besser” which translates to “Less, but better”. Sounds familiar? Yes, he has inspired many of Apple’s products. Actually, Gizmodo once featured a comparison of Apple’s products with some of the most famous products that Rams ever designed. Looking at these pictures, it’s clear that Apple was inspired by Rams.

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