A critical analysis on how well Paul Rand’s logos coincided with his own principles and the principles of Modernism.
Modernism is said to have come about at the beginning of the twentieth century, developing due to a revolt against the industrial revolution; the effects it had modern civilization, and against bourgeois values.
Modernism cannot be pinned down precisely to one era nor is it possible to speak of a single form of ‘modernism’. Modernist often experimented with multiple styles, questioning academic art for its lack of freedom, they never wanted to feel complacent in one style, from cubism to constructivism, surrealism to expressionism and so on.
Although modernist tended not stick to one style of creation they did have a certain…show more content… Retaining the shield in the logo believing that it had symbolic importance for those who donned it [], while placing the parcel on top of the shield symbolizing the service that they provided was Rand’s way of still being playful yet retaining all the qualities of a good logo []. This way of looking at it is one way, as separate signifiers, but as one symbol the signified can be seen as something else, the face of UPS. The likeness to that of a face with a hat on, signifies the work of those who worked for UPS, still maintaining a very formal…show more content… By the late 20th century art was deemed as highbrow and mundane, art had lost all its excitement, minimalism took hold of the forms, and reduced to them down to their simplest forms and processes. Galleries became shows of emptiness. Establishments celebrating monochrome displays. Postmodernism’s ‘anything goes’ attitude brought back the life in art, quite literally, with looking back at old art styles and reimagining them in a new light. Although not everyone thought of postmodernism as this savour to art, most (modernist) critics thought it was a betrayal to the modernist principles, they saw as a dampening of the progress of art. Modernist believed that postmodernism did not criticize society as art should, this point of view saw no real difference between art and advertising. Postmodernism willingness to embrace the media and the market was shunned upon by modernist, stating