[Sigia-l] "Eliot Noyes: A Pioneer of Design and Architecture in the Age of American Modernism"

[Ziya Oz]

A new book on the man who's largely responsible for the genesis of American
take on "Good design is good business":


Eliot Noyes fused architecture, art, interiors, products, and graphics to
construct a unique corporate style. He was personally responsible for the
design of some notable twentieth-century classics, notably IBM's Selectric
typewriter and Mobil Oil's service stations and gas pumps. His belief in a
unified theory of design, where all elements--large and small--are connected
and expressed in the best possible way reconstructed America's corporate
attitude towards design forever. His architectural and design principles
were about a way of life, not simply a professional attitude. Eliot Noyes
used to say, 'Design is a means by which you see yourself and a means by
which you express yourself to others.'

After the MoMA, Noyes focused on design consulting for major U.S. companies.
>From the late 1950s until his death in 1977, Noyes was Consulting Director
of Design for IBM, Mobil Oil, Westinghouse and Cummins Engine Company, while
working with a myriad of other firms. Re-designing entire product lines, he
focused on how all the individual parts, from the buildings to the offices
to the graphic design, contributed in completing the total package and
ultimately expressing the company's significance and direction. Enlisting
pioneering designers and prominent architects, such as Ivan Chermayeff, Tom
Geismar, Gordon Bunshaft, and Paul Rudolph, while running his own office of
architecture and industrial design, he was the man responsible for changing
the way corporations think about design and its impact on business.

<http://tinyurl.com/ytdwsd>

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Ziya

In design, interaction is the last resort.