Rebus in Design

Aside from being an Ian Rankin character, a rebus is a puzzle consisting of pictures representing syllables and words.  You’ll have no doubt seen these fun little challenges in the back of the paper in between the crossword and sudoku.

The Rebus is a fairly rare sight as a design tool, but when used well, packs a punch.  The example we are going to look at is probably the most famous: The Eye-Bee-M rebus by Paul Rand. 

Designed in 1981 for IBM computers, the rebus is an iconic part of IBMs design collateral and is still used to this day.  It has even earned a place in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Paul Rand was first employed by the company to redesign the IBM logo back in 1956 and continued a relationship with them for more than 30 years, refreshing their logo to the striped version we are all familiar with.  In 1981, IBM wanted to announce their in-house Golden Circle award, the company’s premier recognition event for exemplary performance in sales and leadership. And so, Paul was employed to design something for the event, and the rebus Eye-Bee-M was born. 

However, it was not initially loved by management who "thought that it would be an invitation to in-house designers to engage in tomfoolery. They also claimed it was not IBM and failed to recognize that in one fell swoop Rand had humanized the corporation" (Rand, p. 156).  And it took a further year for the company to use the design in a poster promotion where they printed an explanation of each element at the bottom:

At the bottom of the poster, it states:

“An Eye for perception, insight, vision.
A Bee for industriousness, dedication, perseverance.
An M. for motivation, merit, moral strength.

A somewhat unusual perspective of the familiar IBM logotype, and a light reminder of some of the fundamental qualities that have come to characterize the outstanding men and women who have built, and who continue to build, the success of the IBM Company.”

It was a big hit and became one of the most famous corporate identity statements of the 20th century. 

Long live the visual pun!