|
Henry Dreyfuss concerned
himself more with problem
solving and improvement than
with style. He made
products better suited to
work the way people used
them. His designs
oftentimes produced a better
look in the process but
usability was his key
objective.
A Brooklyn, NY native,
Dreyfuss studied as an
apprentice to theater
designer
Norman
Bel-Geddes in the
1920s, and designed over 200
sets, but by the 1930s was a
celebrity designer in his
own right with such major
corporate clients as Western
Electric (the
302 "Lucy"
telephone), Hoover
(1st upright vacuum with
Bakelite hood), Westclox
(Big Ben alarm clock) and
the New
York Central Railroad (20th
Century Limited locomotive).
Other Dreyfuss products and
clients: American Thermos,
General Electric (flat
topped refrigerator), Sears
Roebuck (Toperator washing
machine),
Polaroid Land camera, 1939
World's
|
|
|
Fair(Democracity
futuristic 2039 city and AT
& T pavilion featuring the Vodar voice synthesizer exhibit), John
Deere (Model A and Model B
tractors), Wahl-Eversharp
(Skyline fountain pen), Bell
System (Model 500, Princess
and Trimline phones), safety
razors (Pal, Gem & Flicker) and
Honeywell (round thermostat).
Dreyfuss was featured twice
in Fortune magazine, once in 1934 as the subject of an
article about product design by designer George Nelson
and once in 1951 on the cover. Dreyfuss's 1955 book,
Designing for People, and 1960 The Measure of Man
are considered class reference texts, as was his 1972
"Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to
International Graphic Symbols.
In 1972 he and his wife,
Doris Marks, who was terminally ill with liver cancer,
chose to commit suicide together via carbon monoxide
poisoning at their South Pasadena, California home. |
|
|