The Envato blog had an interesting post about the stories behind Paul Rand’s logo designs.
Born in Brooklyn in 1914, Paul Rand is responsible for some of the most iconic brand identities, including IBM, ABC, Westinghouse, UPS and Next Computer. Though he studied art at Pratt Institute, he claimed that he was self-taught. He was inspired by European commercial arts journals and European modern artists and started his career creating magazine spreads. Soon he created magazine covers, notably for Esquire. At 27, he headed an ad agency, incorporating art into what, in the past, was mostly copy.
By the 1950s Rand moved on to logo work. And the rest is history, as they say.
Good design is good business” —Thomas Watson Jr., IBM
You can see some of the famous work here.