Re: Paul Rand - The Designer of the IBM Logo

[HaaTa]

Awesome post, I learned something today.

[vils]

Awesome post, I learned something today.

+1

[D-EJ915]

IBM's logo is timeless IMO, Apple's rainbow logo really was good as well.  I'm partial to DIGITAL's as well lol.

[bigpook]

good work ripster. I had no idea.

[trievalot]

now i want more IBM stuff!

[Rajagra]

The striated effect of the IBM logo reflects how characters looked on early (low resolution) computer screens. Not sure if that was deliberate, but I bet it was an influence.

[itlnstln]

I have to wait and take the test at home.

[itlnstln]

Your logo makes me want to go break out my Atari 2600.  I like it, though, especially the colors.

[InSanCen]

Your design is mostly win webwit. Me likey.

The only thing that throws me is the "WW" logo's at the bottom. I think the second W is a bit... disjointed? It doesn't look like a W unless you think about it. I think it needs to be "bolder" (I'm not a designer as such, but I do some stuff for Family and Friends). Not sure I have the design vocabularly to express what I think.

[jaybee]

I spent an afternoon with Rand about 20 years ago, in his studio at his home in Connecticut, interviewing him about his IBM work, logos, graphic design and corporate identity. It was an interesting few hours, and as I recall, he showed me the presentation book he'd made for the Next logo (among other things).

Here's a little detail you might not realize about the IBM logo, although it won't surprise anyone who works in graphic design: there are two slightly different versions -- one for black or blue print on a white or light background, and another for 'reverse' use (white-on-black). The size and spacing of the bars is slightly different, and the fourth bar down in the M is one solid piece in the first version, but two separate pieces (breaking in the middle) in the reverse version.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

...at his home in Connecticut...

That's where I live!

[hyperlinked]

The striated effect of the IBM logo reflects how characters looked on early (low resolution) computer screens. Not sure if that was deliberate, but I bet it was an influence.

According to the IBM site, the stripes were to reflect "speed and dynamism."

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/logo/logo_8.html

I think the popular perception of monitor and TV screens having vertical resolution stripes came later on, but then again, if you're a legendary designer, you see ahead of the curve.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Somewhere near Harwinton if my GPS kung fu skills are up to snuff.

How did you figure that out?  Oh right, why would I even ask such a question of Ripster.

[kishy]

I recently say the I/eye used in some other company's TV commercial.

3 letters, I something something, I forget what it was...but it was symbols like the eye/bee/M

[pfink]

I recently say the I/eye used in some other company's TV commercial.

3 letters, I something something, I forget what it was...but it was symbols like the eye/bee/M

Probably Lenscrafters:

[kishy]

Probably Lenscrafters:

Show Image

Bingo.

[type_dancer]

Gah. I feel lame. Ripster commented on my Avatar in another thread and I was all like "Yah it was designed by the same guy who did the official IBM logo blah blah blah"

...... now I see this thread and I'm like doh. Should have known he knew!!! At least it was one of the few things I did already know before I found geekhack. Le sigh.

[type_dancer]

Oiy. Ripster commented on my avatar in another thread and I was all telling him how the guy who designed the official IBM logo did that one as well.

....... now I see this thread and it is like DOH I Should have known he knew that already. Heh, at least it is something I already knew before finding geekhack. Go me.

[type_dancer]

Of course, now I want to find that mug.

[EverythingIBM]

Send a PM with your address but no name so my wife doesn't get jealous and think I'm hitting on you.

Which translates from ripsterian to: "Give me your name and phone number" lol.

[itlnstln]

She gave me her husbands name.

It's Mongo.

Any relation to Mingo?

[ricercar]

But Jaco is who I really like

And he's dead.

>

[chimera15]

filco sounds like a gas station?  Philco is an old radio....

Couldn't he come up with a funny looking graphic for m? lol  Maybe that lady from James bond. lol

[chimera15]

That's better.

[itlnstln]

Don't call me "Honey," Babe.

[itlnstln]

And, apparently, the best don't-link-to-our-image image.

[Pylon]

My favorite logo of all time.

[kishy]

Heh, I always liked the Northwest logo as well.

But I only just now noticed the W is there too...

If you look at the Toyota logo you can see that every letter of the word 'TOYOTA' is in fact present in the logo. Can't believe I noticed that before NWA though.

[armenws]

5 star post dude.

[EverythingIBM]

Something is telling me that this thread isn't talking about Paul Rand anymore lol.



Look at that funny drawing behind Rand. Reminds me of Julius Fucik:


Fucik has some of the most melodic music I've heard.

[Oqsy]

Careful with that name, sir.

[EverythingIBM]

Careful with that name, sir.

Well it actually sounds like "foo-chick" (фучик), but the idiot who transliterated it, didn't do a good job.

[kip69]

I am assuming you all have got this movie playing right now eh

Logorama
Sorry, can't find one to embed.

And this is a great thread Rip.  But no digs at OCN?  

[instantkamera]

15/20 ... if I had thought harder Im sure Edison and Chavez would have come to me, but I've never seen Ted Turner that young and have no idea who Maria Callas is tbh.

[muchadoaboutnothing]

Uh oh.

I Reddited this and it's now 2 Geekhack members and 315 guests viewing the thread.

Sorry for the slowdown Geekhackers.

Lot of lurkers on /r/todayilearned, it seems.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 347 (2 members and 345 guests)  

Trying to crash Geekhack?

ಠ_ಠ
 
EDIT

Most users ever online was 545, 1 Minute Ago at 18:43.

Confirmed.

EDIT 2: While reddit is swamping us, I'll share another interesting IBM story: the uphill battle to get the trackpoint tip red.

Red badge of novelty

One final change made to the TrackPoint was suggested by Sapper. The tip of Selker's and Rutledge's pointing stick had been black, a color that got lost in the black ThinkPad keyboard. Sapper said, "Let it sing," and the tip was changed to red, which brought about a closing act of corporate silliness rivaled only by Abbott and Costello trying to decide who's on first.

Hardy explains: "IBM had a cherished standard which said that the only thing that could be red on a product was an emergency power switch, those enormous switches on the mainframes. To have the little TrackPoint tip subjected to this same standard was absurd, but, given the situation at IBM then, we knew the red dot wouldn't get through the system. So we toned it down a shade and called it magenta."

Soon afterward, Designer Yamazaki received a call from an IBM standards watchdog, who wanted to know why manufacturing had produced these tiny red parts.

Yamazaki said, "They're not red. They're magenta."

"No," replied the watchdog. "They're red."

The two men battled back and forth, then phoned Hardy to adjudicate the argument.

"They aren't red, they're magenta," Hardy assured the standards overseer, which led to a rambling, philosophical debate on the ontology of redness. Still, the watchdog held his position--no red allowed, not even if you called it magenta.

Hardy suggested that they take the argument to a higher level, confident that the watchdog would shrink from continuing such a trivial discussion with senior management. That was how it played out. The tip kept its magenta classification, and in the coming years, with the introduction of each new ThinkPad, the color of the rubber tip was increased a shade until it finally became a bright red symbol of the brand.

[kps]

“The evolution of the logo”



Photo © Marcin Wichary; reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

[didjamatic]

Woah!  He rocked a belt in 2009!  I never noticed.

[zefrer]

Not to **** on your legos or anything but the phrase "Now before IBM became a boring Service and Software company they were the hipster Google of the day" is completely incorrect.

IBM for most of the 20th century was the Microsoft of the 90s-present. Loathed and despised, the corporate devil. Men with impeccable hair in dark grey suits, white shirts and tie knocking on people's doors singing a song about how IBM is awesome while trying to sell them stuff.

If anything the IBM of today is the hipster one.

[zefrer]

Mumble mumble mumble blah blah legos blah.

Random pic


Thanks for the animated GIF induced seizure btw, much appreciated.

[kps]

Sorry, no mug, mousemats, or THINK signs.  Check  Ebay for those.

You have steel rebus mugs. And you have THINK notepads; we don't get those, or the rebus T-shirts, in Canada.

But our boogie bots are blue, while yours are just grey. How can you be Big Blue if you're grey?

[zefrer]

Mumble mumble mumble blah blah legos blah.

Random pic

Show Image

Right, that's what I said.

[itlnstln]

Damn.  His/her smile is as wide as the logo.

[Lanx]

I keep seeing this thread and think it's a political one

Rand Paul protester girl being head stomped.

[zefrer]

You'd think that people that want to see what's on reddit would, like, go on reddit?

[instantkamera]

You'd think that people that want to see what's on reddit would, like, go on reddit?

there's a rip(ster) in your logic.

[itlnstln]

Republicans (around here) are selfish, ignorant *******s.  They make us the laughing stock of the world.  There, I said it.  I really need to move out of Texas.  It's too bad that all the other states with no snow are also red.  Friggin' old people.

With all the election stuff going on, I really needed to get that off my chest.  You would think Obama, personally, mugged these people in streets and raped their grandma, or something.

[zefrer]

When next you troll ask yourself this - Who trolls the trollers?

I do.

[itlnstln]

The Shadow knows.

[zefrer]

The Shadow knows all.

[zefrer]

Mumble mumble mumble blah blah legos blah.

Random pic

Show Image

Look familiar?