key people Paul Rand Paul Rand (1914-1996) was one of the most important graphic designers of the 20th century. He became famous for the creation of simple, bold logos for big companies like IBM, ABC, UPS, and NeXT. His style was clean and smart, showing that design can be both beautiful and useful. Rand believed that design speaks for a brand: Design is the silent ambassador of your brand . He mixed modern European design with American advertising, making complex ideas easy to understand. He didn t just design logos, he also worked on ads, packaging, and books. His career began with small design jobs, but by the 1950s and 60s, he was well known in the corporate world. One of his most famous projects was creating the NeXT logo for Steve Jobs. Jobs loved his work and called him the greatest living graphic designer . Rand also taught design at Yale University, inspiring many students. His work is still admired today and continues to influence modern design. Paula Scher Paula Scher is one of the most famous female graphic designers alive today and is particularly known for her work in typography. Her career, which spans over 50 years, has seen her create identity and branding systems, environmental graphics, promotional materials for a huge list of big-name clients including Adobe, CocaCola, Citibank, Tiffany & Co, and the Museum of Modern Art. She now works for New York s Pentagram studio, which she joined in 1991. She began her career as a layout artist for Random House s children s book division before going on to design iconic album covers for CBS and Atlantic Records. Inspired by Russian constructivism, she started working on a style of typography integrated with imagery. Not only is she a successful designer, she is also known as an artist for her large paintings of maps covered with closely packed hand-painted labelling and information. Today, she continues to experiment and push boundaries, including with recent (and controversial) use of AI for the creation of some icons for the US government s performance tracking website. Jessica Walsh Jessica Walsh is a famous American designer, art director, and illustrator. She began her career working for the famous fashion designer Paula Scher; from there, she worked as an associate art director at Print magazine and enjoyed seeing her work published in magazines such as the New York Times. In 2010 she met Stefan Sagmeister, who offered her a job at his design studio. Two years later, Walsh was made partner at age 25, cofounding the design studio Sagmeister & Walsh, where she worked for nine years. In 2019, she started her own creative agency, &Walsh, to help change the fact that only 0.1% of creative agencies are owned by women. In addition to collaborating with clients like Levi s and Adobe, Jessica is behind Ladies Wine & Design , a project she collaborated on with designer Timothy Goodman. This nonprofit organisation offers events, meetups, and mentorships for women and non-binary individuals, aiming to make the creative industry more diverse and inclusive. Known for her bold use of colour and a surreal style, Jessica believes a brand s unique weirdness is its greatest strength. She helps clients find this special quality through a process she calls brand therapy . 118 Graphic design