Accession Number
2016/2.203

Title
Quality/IBM # 1

Artist(s)
Paul Rand

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1990

Medium & Support
silkscreen on paper

Dimensions
33 in x 21 1/2 in (83.82 cm x 54.61 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo and Maria Phillips

Subject matter
Transcript of text:
The concept of quality is difficult to define, for it is not merely seen, but somehow intuited in the presence of the work in which it is embodied. Quality has little to do with popular notions of beauty, taste, ory style; and nothing to do with status, respectability, or luxury. It is revealed, rather, in an atmosphere of receptivity, propriety, and restraint.
Quality is concerned with the weighing of relationships; the discovery of analogies and contrasts; with proportion and harmony; the juxtaposition of formal and functional elements–with their transformation and enrichment.
Quality is concerned with truth, not deception; with ideas, not techniques; with the enduring, not the ephemeral; with precision, not fussiness; with simplicity, not vacuity; with subtlety, not blatancy; with sensitivity, not sentimentality.
In this poster, Paul Rand explains the concept of quality. The assumption the viewer makes is that the graphic designer’s perception of quality translates to the companies for which he crafts designs. The poster itself is not loud or ostentatious, rather the visual elements are muted in order to illustrate the message embodied in the definition of the word quality.

EC 2017

Physical Description
A beige background with the word 'Quality:' toward the top in black, stylized, stacked text. Below, in black text, is an explanation of the concept of quality written by Paul Rand.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
graphic design
typefaces (type forms)