RISD History of Industrial Design, Spring 2022

Computers have, in one form or another, been around for a very long time. Mechanisms like the Antikythera mechanism, or the Curta calculator show that our ability to use devices to extend our mathematical abilities and understand, interpret, and record complicated realities has been with us for centuries. During World War 2, mechanical computing devices took huge steps forward to help break codes. The Harvard Mark 1, developed at this time, was in non-stop operation from 1944 through 1959. Vacuum tubes replaced gears, and then transistors replaced vacuum tubes, and then circuit boards came along to refine the technology into what we now recognize as computing. 

Electronics created problems for designers, as time-honored thinking about the relationship between form and function no longer applied. With function being dematerialized, designers struggled to find new considerations for form language like emotion and narrative and even humor. "Product Semantics" is the fancy term we use to talk about this effort to infuse design with layers of narrative in the absence of mechanical constraints. The use of electronics was easy to find in toys in the late 1970's. As circuit boards transformed other objects, designers began to realize the importance of operational sequences, and new kinds of interfaces that could explain the mysterious operations of a screen-and-button object. 

Because design began to be more focused on external form, designers became known for their personal, sculptural form sensibilities. From the Memphis movement in the early 1980s to the Alessi Coffee and Tea Piazza series to Philippe Starck in the 1990s to Marc Newson and Ross Lovegrove today, the era of the Celebrity Designer was born.

Computers challenged designers' abilities to house electronics in designed objects with some sort of logic. They also allowed a new approach to design with the introduction of CAD and CAM systems. Early CAD setups were expensive and limited, and as a result useful in only a few environments. As personal computers became more sophisticated in the 1980s, more professions began to develop computer assisted design tools. When Hollywood began creating 3D animations, putting skins over the wire form drawings, and creating controlled lighting effects, CAD began to resemble what we still use today for design. Because CAD software is inherently math-based, designers were (and still are to a lesser extent) forced to compromise their form language and arrive at a frequently clumsy hybrid of personal expression and geometry. 

In a fevered attempt to end with an example of design gone RIGHT, I crashed the class into Smart Design and OXO. Sam Farber spent a lifetime in kitchenware design (Farberware, Copco). His last company was OXO, founded to distribute ergonomic kitchen tools designed in partnership with Smart Design. This was, and continues to be, a happy and successful combination of everything we looked at this semester. Now it is your turn…

Designers and other useful names Included: Archimedes Joseph Marie Jacquard Curt Herzstark Hartmut Esslinger/frogdesign Susan Kare Jonathan Ives Leon Theremin Isamu Noguchi Mario Bellini Dietrich Lubs Nobutoshi Kihara Martin Cooper Ettore Sottsass Graham Hinde Klaus Krippendorff Lisa Krohn Tucker Viemeister Leslie Fontana Ideal Group Donald Booty Jr. Technology Design Michael Graves Ronald Lytel Donald Booty Jr Philippe Starck Luigi Colani Ivan Sutherland Patrick Hanratty Anna Castelli Ferrieiri James O'Halloran/Kevin Foley Peter Schneider Jürgen Greubel Marc Newson Karim Rashid Guido Ventorini Alessandro Mendini Mattia di Rosa Stefano Giovannoni Ross Lovegrove Konstantin Grcic Marco Zanini Masanori Umeda Michele De Lucchi Martine Bedine Giovanni Alessi Alberto Alessi Carlo Alessi Aldo Rossi Kazumasa Yamashita Charles Jencks Oscar Tusquets Stanley Tigerman Richard Meier Hans Hollein Robert Venturi Yves Béhar Naoto Fukasawa Sam Farber Michael Lax Smart Design (Tucker Viemeister)

The Ulm School (Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm, if you want to be really accurate about it) operated from 1955 to 1968. In that time, the Product Design department worked with Braun to design appliances, audio and film equipment, and personal care devices (shavers, hair dryers). The designs introduced a confidence with the use of mixed materials, combination of rational geometric form with organic form, mastery of sculptural and functional form language, and exploration of how products incorporating new technology can seem familiar and easy to use. Dieter Rams, Gerd Alfred Müller, and Fritz Eichler formed the core of a design department at Braun which created a standardized approach to process and aesthetic which defined Braun's output for decades. At the same time, new plastics and new manufacturing methods for plastics allowed designers to explore form in new ways. Designs appeared in the 1960's that were restricted not by the grain or malleability of material, but by the imagination. Designers challenged the limitations of plastic and molds by designing ever larger and more complicated objects. Plastic products began to flow into people's lives and import with them bright colors, shiny surfaces, and a sense of fun. Expanded plastic foam allowed new forms and products. Plastic was also introduced into humbler objects like food packaging, soda bottles, and plastic bags. The cheapness and novelty of plastic made it prevalent in every aspect of life around the world in the early 1970’s. creating entirely new behaviors and patterns of consumption. Along with all of the discarded bottles and broken toys came an understanding that the Earth, though rich in resources, was and is a delicately balanced system in danger of being overcome by the sloppy way we are living on it. Designers included: The BIG names: Wilhelm Wagenfeld Hans Gugelot Fritz Eichler Gerd Alfred Müller Dieter Rams Reinhold Weiss Gino Colombini Anna Castelli Ferrieri  Giulio Castelli Joe Colombo  Olof Bäckström  Massimo & Lella Vignelli  Ettore Sottsass  Perry King  Richard Sapper  Marco Zanuso  Mario Bellini  Helmut Bätzner  Vico Magistretti  Verner Panton  Giovanni Maur  Earl S. Tupper Charles Harrison R. Buckminster Fuller  Rachel Carson

The other names, just in case you crave more: Max Bill Hans Roericht  Max, Artur, and Erwin Braun Robert Oberheim  Jürgen Greubel  Seiffert Florian  Heinz Ulrich Haase  Ludwig Littman Jonathan Ive Gioto Stoppino Emma Gismondi Schweinberger Carl-Arne Breger Hugo Blomberg/Ralph Lysell/Gösta Thames (Ericofon) Kay LeRoy Ruggles Kenneth Brozan  Paolo Lomazzi/Donato D'Urbino/Jonathan De Pas  Rodolfo Bonetto Ole and Godtfred Christiansen (Lego) Bill Pugh (lemon juice) Don Featherstone (flamingos) Robert Menghi  Charles Furey (Integra Chair) Jean-Paul Guichon (Grosfillex chair) Sten Gustaf Thulin (plastic bag)

After World War Two, the growth of large corporations and the economy they helped create allowed office buildings, furniture, and equipment to dominate design efforts. The focus began to expand from home furnishings to include more design for the work place. Companies like Knoll and Herman Miller focused their efforts on designing for office, airport, classroom, and dormitory spaces as well as post-war modern homes. Designing lightweight durable furnishings, office systems, and storage systems for these environments gave designers the opportunity to better understand how people used offices, and how design could make that a better relationship. 

As marketing became a more integrated part of the practice of Industrial Design, user preferences began to steer design decisions. Focus groups and user surveys led some designers to create objects more focused on  what people wanted than on what they needed. Designers discussed include: Eva Zeisel  James Klein and David Reid (Klein Reid) Isamu Noguchi Russel and Mary Wright  Freda Diamond  Hans Knoll Florence “Schu” Knoll  Jens Risom  Eero Saarinen  Bonet, Kurchan, Ferrari Hardoy (B.K.F. Chair) Harry Bertoia  George Nelson  Harry Wright Robert (Bob) Propst  Marcello Nizzoli  Eliot Noyes  Buckminster Fuller Anne Hewlett Fuller Shoji Sadao Starling Burgess