Paul Rand’s Color Endorsement

Posted inThe Daily Heller
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Paul Rand did not promote himself, but various companies used Paul Rand to promote them. First, there were the advertisements he designed while art director for the William Weintraub Agency. Then he created ads for Westinghouse, when he did their institutional campaigns in the mid-1950s.

Paul Rand Design, Posters

In 1955 he was asked by Du Pont (“Better Things for Better Living. . . through Chemistry”) to help publicize Mohawk‘s Construction Paper line of colored papers. Cutting up colored paper was one of his favorite metiers during that time. As it says on the advert: “Color stock, like paint, is a working material for the artist just as ink is for the printer.”

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Du Pont was leading a Color Council and wanted their color chemicals to be the best seller. “The gay colors are silk screened. The black impression is by letterpress.” The ad appeared in Print and was printed in 50,000 copies. The marriage of art and chemicals had no better endorsement.

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