In this 1993 interview, Steve Jobs discusses what it was like to work with legendary designer Paul Rand, the mastermind behind the logo of Jobs’ second company, NeXT, and a creative legend of unflinching conviction. Like many geniuses, Rand seems to have had equal parts brilliance and bravado, talent and tenacity.
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. And you don’t have to use the solution — if you want options, go talk to other people. But I’ll solve your problem for you the best way I know how, and you use it or not, that’s up to you — you’re the client — but you pay me.’
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He’s a very deep, thoughtful person who’s tried to express in every part of his life what his principles are. And you don’t meet so many people like that today.
For a wonderful companion read, see this 1990 interview with Rand on what he calls “the play instinct” — something Paula Scher, another titan of design, would come to echo a generation later in her fantastic TED talk.
