This paper presents a rank-constrained linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach to the design of a multi-objective controller such as $H_2/H_{infty}$ control. Multi-objective control is formulated as an LMI optimization problem with a nonconvex rank condition, which is imposed on the controller gain matirx not Lyapunov matrices. With this rank-constrained formulation, we can expect to reduce conservatism because we can use separate Lyapunov matrices for different control objectives. An iterative penalty method is applied to solve this rank-constrained LMI optimization problem. Numerical experiments are performed to illustrate the proposed method.