Overview
After discovering that there was hardly any information online about Mr. Rand, I decided to take on this personal project as my mission to collect and archive as many details about his life and work as I could find.
In 2005, I spoke with his wife Marion and she was fully supportive of the project. She told me I could use “anything you can get your mitts on”. So with her blessing, I began in earnest and haven’t stopped.
Not only have I learned an immense amount about how to build a website, it has opened many doors to relationships I never thought possible.
It is the project that I am most proud of.
Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.
— Paul Rand
The index page code
I coded the entire site by hand using the Pug language. There are no 3rd party tools like WordPress—just good ol’ basic HTML.
This was done intentionally so that in the future there would never be any dependencies on certain technologies that may possibly go extinct.
Custom page templates created with Pug
60+ years of design history
One of the most difficult parts of the project was how to organize and divide the work in a way that is comprehensive yet easy to navigate.
The solution I devised was to focus on 3 aspects: life, work, and writing. These guideposts became the organizing principles of where everything would be organized.
The writing section is unique in that while it is part of his work it is one thing that sets him apart from other designers. The work section is projects done for clients, the writing section is projects done for himself and the industry.
Life
Work
Writing
Videos
Articles
Work samples
Book covers
Paintings
House floorplans
Carrying on
While the site is now full of his most popular works and other rare objects, the hunt for more continues…
I’m most curious about his process and how he thinks. Sketches, prelimary mockups, video and audio recordings and other items that gives a glimpse into his thoughts and decision-making process.