Combining the experimental formal vocabularies of their European peers with the material demands of American commerce, a select number of graphic designers helped inaugurate a new visual language that would revolutionize the role of design as both a service and an art. Of this group, none was so accomplished, or would produce as many lasting contributions to this field as Paul Rand—who taught in the graduate program at Yale for over thirty years. This slim volume combines an essay published in The New Republic (“begin at the beginning,” advised the editor, “and tell Americans what graphic design actually is”) with an essay for the Phaidon monograph on Rand, specifically focused on the evolution and enduring impact of his pedagogy.