Rudolph de Harak

Rudolph de Harak, also Rudy de Harak (April 10, 1924 – April 24, 2002), was an American graphic designer. De Harak was notable as a designer who covered a broad spectrum of applications with a distinctly modernist aesthetic. He was also influential as a professor of design.

Early life and education De Harak was born in Culver City, California. As a child, he moved to Chicago and then New York City to support his sisters' dancing careers, and lived at the Metropolitan Apartments, a large affordable housing project in Astoria, Queens, developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in the 1920s. De Harak attended a local public middle school P. S. 141 in Queens, followed by the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan. One of de Harak's closest childhood friends was the singer Tony Bennett.

Career

After serving in World War II, de Harak was influenced by two lectures given by Will Burtin and György Kepes which compelled him to pursue graphic design. Along with Saul Bass, Alvin Lustig and others, de Harak helped found the Los Angeles Society for Contemporary Designers before he moved to New York City to become art director for Seventeen for just 18 months. At the same time, de Harak drew illustrations for Esquire and soon began his long tenure in teaching.

De Harak founded New York-based design studio de Harak & Associates in 1950. In 1985 he was joined by designer Richard Poulin, who later became partner and assumed the role of de Harak & Associates’ principal, renaming it as de Harak & Poulin Associates.

De Harak served as the Frank Stanton Professor of Design at the Cooper Union for 25 years, and was visiting professor at Yale University, Alfred University, Parsons, Pratt Institute and other schools. He also designed a neon-illuminated entrance and a scaffold covered with brightly covered canvas outside.

Other notable projects by de Harak include the graphic design of the Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, He was the recipient of a 1992 AIGA Medal.