A giant of American graphic design, with the logos of IBM, Westinghouse, American Broadcasting Co., United Parcel Service, and NeXT Computer to his credit. Author of several books on the graphic design process. From 1935 he ran his own studio in New York. From 1956 he was a professor of graphic design at Yale. He continued designing until well into the 1990s. In his 1999 biography of Rand, Stephen Heller writes: he was the channel through which European modern art and design Russian Constructivism, Dutch De Stijl and the German Bauhaus was introduced to American commercial art.

In 1984 he was awarded the TDC Medal, the award from the Type Directors Club presented to those who have made significant contributions to the life, art, and craft of typography.