Henry Dreyfuss
Henry Dreyfuss (/ˈdraɪfəs/; March 2, 1904 – October 5, 1972) was an American industrial designer. Dreyfuss and his firm received worldwide recognition for numerous designs for a wide spectrum of consumer and commercial products, including their long-time association with the Western Electric company and the Bell System for designing telephones from the 1930s through the 1960s. His design philosophy was based on applied common sense and scientific principles and resulted in significant contributions to human-factor analysis and consumer research.
Career
Dreyfuss was a native of Brooklyn, New York. As one of the celebrity industrial designers of the 1930s and 1940s, Dreyfuss dramatically improved the look, feel, and usability of dozens of consumer products. When compared to Raymond Loewy and some other contemporaries, Dreyfuss was not a stylist; he applied common sense and a scientific approach to design problems. His work both popularized the field, for public consumption, and made significant contributions to the underlying fields of ergonomics, anthropometrics and human factors. Until 1920, Dreyfuss studied as an apprentice to theatrical designer Norman Bel Geddes, his later competitor, and opened his own office in 1929 for theatrical and industrial design activities. It was an immediate and long-lasting commercial success. His firm continued to operate as Henry Dreyfuss Associates (HDA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for four decades after his death before shutting down.
Designs
Dreyfuss and his associates designed some of the most ubiquitous and iconic products of twentieth century America. Among them:
- Hoover model 150 vacuum cleaner (1936)
- Classic Westclox Big Ben alarm clock (1939–present)[1]
- New York Central Railroad's streamlined Mercury train, both locomotive and passenger cars (1936)[2]
- NYC Hudson locomotive for the Twentieth Century Limited (1938)[2]
- Popular Democracity model city of the future at the 1939 New York World's Fair at the Trylon and Perisphere
- Styled John Deere Model A and Model B tractors (1938)
- Wahl-Eversharp Skyline fountain pen (1940)
- Royal Typewriter Company's Quiet DeLuxe (late 1940s)
- Bell System telephones: Western Electric 500-series desk and wall telephones (1949 - 1972), Princess telephone (1959), Model 1500 10 digit touchtone (1963), Model 2500 12-digit touchtone (1968–present), and the Trimline telephone (1965–present)
- Two American steamships, S.S. Independence and S.S. Constitution for American Export Lines (1951–2)
- Honeywell T87 "the Round" circular wall thermostat (1953–present)
- Spherical Hoover model 82 Constellation vacuum cleaner which floated on an air cushion of its own exhaust (1954)
- Hoover model 65 convertible vacuum cleaner (1957)
- John Deere 1010, 2010, 3010, and 4010 tractors (1960)
- Bankers Trust Building at 280 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, with Emery Roth & Sons (1963)[3]
- American Airlines branding (1960s)[4]
- Polaroid SX-70 Land camera (1972)
Later life
In 1955, Dreyfuss wrote Designing for People. A window into Dreyfuss's career as an industrial designer, the book illustrated his ethical and aesthetic principles, included design case studies, many anecdotes, and an explanation of his "Joe" and "Josephine" anthropometric charts. In 1960 he published The Measure of Man, a collection of ergonomic reference charts providing designers precise specifications for product designs. In 1965, Dreyfuss became the first President of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). In 1969, Dreyfuss retired from the firm he founded,[5] but continued serving many of the companies he worked with as board member and consultant. In 1972 Dreyfuss published The Symbol Sourcebook, A Comprehensive Guide to International Graphic Symbols. This visual database of over 20,000 symbols continues to provide a standard for industrial designers around the world.
Death
On October 5, 1972, Dreyfuss and his terminally ill wife Doris Marks Dreyfuss were found in their garage after having taken their own lives, dead from intentional carbon monoxide poisoning. Dreyfuss was survived by a son and two daughters.[6][7]
References
Notes
- ↑ Stoddard, Bill. "Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Advertising History". ClockHistory.com.
- 1 2 Drury, George H. (1993). Guide to North American Steam Locomotives. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company. p. 271. ISBN 0-89024-206-2.
- ↑ White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot & Leadon, Fran (2010), AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195383867 , p.317
- ↑ "Designer of 1960s American Airlines logo tells Businessweek what he really thinks of AA's new logo". Sky Talk. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
- ↑ Henry Dreyfuss Associates | People | Collection of Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
- ↑ JONES, ROBERT A. (7 May 1997). "Our Dreyfuss Affair". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ↑ "Henry Dreyfuss, Noted Designer, Is Found Dead With His Wife". The New York Times. South Pasadena, CA. 6 October 1972. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
Bibliography
- Dreyfuss, Henry. Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1984. ISBN 0-471-28872-1
- Dreyfuss, Henry. Designing for People. Allworth Press; illustrated edition, 2003. ISBN 1-58115-312-0
- Flinchum, Russell. Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer: The Man in the Brown Suit. Rizzoli, 1997. ISBN 0-8478-2010-6
- Innes, Christopher. Designing Modern America: Broadway to Main Street. Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-300-10804-4
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