Brooklyn-born art director and graphic designer Paul Rand was revered for his iconic logo designs and IBM branding. His most memorable graphic design work embraced humor and levity. When Watson analyzed Rand’s books, including Thoughts on Design, he discovered that Rand’s writings displayed anger at a level of 67%, contrary to the lighthearted themes and concepts often found in his graphic design.
Inspired by Rand’s playful designs, artists Blake Rutledge, Chris Rowson and Robyn Makinson created Emotional Spellcheck, a work composed of customized emojis on Plexiglas, reflecting the emotions Watson surfaced in Rand’s writings.
This portrait concept is also represented in The Cognitive Photo Booth at the exhibition. Inside the booth, Watson asks gallery guests a few questions, analyzes their personality, and prints a custom “emoji” portrait based on their Watson Personality Profile.
About Art with Watson: IBM Watson is a cognitive system that understands, reasons and learns. In the few years Watson has been at work in the world, he’s had one purpose: to augment human ability. To help us make better decisions, do what we do better. Hidden Portraits is a collaboration between Watson and a selection of notable contemporary artists. Those artists used insights uncovered by Watson to create unique and revealing, never-before-possible portraits of influential thinkers. See the art at
