steve jobs | Movie Poster Museum

Visionary. Genius. Icon. It’s not often that these kind of lofty terms seem too insufficient to describe a person — but that just might be the case in regards to tech giant, Steve Jobs, the founding father of Apple Computer, who passed away this week at the age of 56. Even if you don’t own a Mac computer or iPhone or iPod, it’s hard to imagine modern life without his contributions.

ORIGINALLY POSTED MAY 2010: These posters are from Apple’s Think Different ad campaign back in the early 90’s.

Although this post doesn’t feature movie posters, one could argue that Steve Jobs and his Mac have done more for visual artists than any invention of mankind — except for maybe whoever came up with the paintbrush. But since we don’t know who that is, I’m going with Jobs!

The self-taught graphic design guru, Paul Rand (1914-1996), was most famous for his corporate logos and identities for such companies as ABC, IBM, and UPS — and was even hired by Apple king, Steve Jobs, to develop the branding for his NeXT computers. Like Saul Bass, his clean, simple lines pretty much defines the 50’s and 60’s Mid-Century Modernist look. However, unlike Bass, he chose to stick to the more steady commercial work of designing trademarks and completed only one movie poster for No Way Out, starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier.

It’s a shame, too. There’s no doubt Rand could’ve whipped out some classic one-sheets! If you want to learn more about the man and his philosophy, check out this video tribute.