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.
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.[4] At the same time, de Harak drew illustrations for Esquire and soon began his long tenure in teaching.[5]
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.[6]
He designed a three-story digital clock installed on the exterior of 200 Water St. (previously 127 John St.) in New York City. The clock consists of "72 square modules with numerals that light according to date, hour, minute and second". At the time of project completion in 1971, it was the largest clock in the world.[7] He also designed a neon-illuminated entrance and a scaffold covered with brightly covered canvas outside.[8]
↑Heller, Steven, ed. (1992). Graphic design: New York: the work of thirty-nine great firms from the city that put graphic design on the map. Rockport, Mass: Rockport Allworth Editions. p.25. ISBN978-0-935603-62-0.
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