In 1986, Steve Jobs recruited renowned graphic designer Paul Rand to create a brand identity costing $100,000. Rand created a 100-page brochure detailing the brand, including the precise angle used for the logo (28°) and a new company name, NeXT.

 

Steve Jobs on working with Rand:

“I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said, ‘No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.’”

Even after his death in 1996, Paul Rand remains one of the most famous graphic designers in the world.

He was born Peretz Rosenbaum, on August 15th, 1914, and is renowned for his corporate logo designs.
Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute (1929–1932), and the Art Students League (1933–1934). He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. From 1956 to 1969, and beginning again in 1974, Rand taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Rand was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He designed many posters and corporate identities, including the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC. Rand died of cancer on November 26th, 1996, and is buried in Beth El Cemetery In Norwalk, CT.

Paul Rand logo designs
ABC
Designed 1962

“Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes. If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned.”

IBM
Designed 1962

“A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies.”

UPS
Designed 1961

 

“Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.” __ PAUL RAND

Edit:

I would also like to add Paul Rand’s final logo which he designed in 1996. The logo was created for Rand’s friend Dough Evans an avid entrepreneur with an idea about an online print outsourcing company.

After so many struggles about the name of company, Evans agreed with a name suggested by Rand, “Servador”, a combination of words “service” and “vendor”.

Paul Rand’s logo for Servador was simple and powerful. It was staged inside a box for impact and Rand used a shining light for the purpose of uniting the top and bottom letters. The use of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black was an obvious nod to the printing industry. As part of the original program, solid red, green, blue and gray versions were also available for use.

 

Edit 2: When posting this answer I was excited to share a great story and didn’t researched enough facts to understand this logo is not categorized as one of the most expensive logos in the history– it’s just an expensive logo. So my apologies for that and thank you for reading!

Sources:
Paul Rand’s Final Logo?
http://www.logodesignlove.com/ne…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT

Answer by Pooria Atarzadeh:

Which is world’s most expensive logo ever?

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