Henry Dreyfuss
Encyclopedia
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
er.
Career
Dreyfuss was a native of BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. 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. As opposed to Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy was an industrial designer, and the first to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States...
and 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
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...
, anthropometrics, and human factors
Human factors
Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...
. Until 1920 Dreyfuss studied as an apprentice to theatrical designer Norman Bel Geddes
Norman Bel Geddes
Norman Melancton Bel Geddes was an American theatrical and industrial designer who focused on aerodynamics....
, 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. As of his firm continues to operate as Henry Dreyfuss Associates with major corporate clients.
Designs
- the "Western Electric 302Model 302 telephoneThe Model 302 telephone subscriber set was manufactured by Western Electric from 1937; manufacture of entirely new units was ceased after the introduction of the Model 500, but Model 302 units were continually remanufactured as such at least until 1958, and as the Model 5302 telephone which was...
" tabletop telephone for Bell Laboratories (1930, produced 1937-1950) - the HooverThe Hoover CompanyThe Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...
"Model 150" vacuum cleaner (1936) - the classic WestcloxWestcloxWestclox was a former manufacturer and is a current brand of clocks and alarm clocks.-Early history as United Clock Company:Charles Stahlberg and others from Waterbury, Connecticut originally formed as "United Clock Company" on December 5, 1885 in Peru, Illinois, intending to manufacture clocks...
"Big Ben" alarm clock (1939)http://clockhistory.com/westclox/company/ads/benseries.html - the New York Central RailroadNew York Central RailroadThe New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
's streamlined MercuryMercury (NYC)Mercury was the name used by the New York Central Railroad for a family of daytime streamliner passenger trains operating between midwestern cities. The Mercury train sets were designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, and are considered a prime example of Art Deco design...
train, both locomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
and passenger cars (1936). - the NYC HudsonNYC HudsonHudson was the name given to the 4-6-4 steam locomotive wheel arrangement by the New York Central Railroad which was the first to use locomotives of this type in North America.-History:...
locomotive for the "Twentieth Century Limited" (1938) - the popular "Democracity" model city of the future at the 1939 New York World's Fair1939 New York World's FairThe 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
at the Trylon and Perisphere - the styled John DeereJohn DeereJohn Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world...
Model A and Model B tractors (1938) - the Wahl-Eversharp Skyline fountain pen (1940).
- the Royal Typewriter CompanyRoyal Typewriter CompanyThe Royal Typewriter Company was a manufacturer of typewriters headquartered in New York City with its factory in Hartford, Connecticut.-History:...
's Quiet DeLuxe (late 1940's). - the "500Model 500 telephoneThe Western Electric model 500 telephone series was the standard desk-style domestic telephone set issued by the Bell System in North America from late 1949 through the 1984 Bell System divestiture. Millions of model 500-series phones were produced and were present in almost every home in North...
" desk telephone (1949), a Bell SystemBell SystemThe Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S...
standard for years - the HoneywellHoneywellHoneywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
T87 circular wall thermostat (1953). - the spherical "Model 82 Constellation" vacuum cleaner for Hoover (1954) which floated on an air cushion of its own exhaust.
- the "PrincessPrincess telephoneThe Princess Phone was introduced by the Bell System in 1959. It was a compact telephone designed for convenient use in the bedroom, and contained a light-up dial for use as a night-light. It was commonly known with the slogan "It's little...It's lovely...It lights", which was suggested Robert Karl...
" telephone (1959) - the "TrimlineTrimline telephoneThe Western Electric Trimline telephone is a variety of telephone set designed by Donald Genaro of Henry Dreyfuss Associates for the Bell System . It was built by the Bell System's manufacturing arm, Western Electric. The idea behind the Trimline telephone was to create an alternative telephone...
" desk telephone (1965). - the Polaroid SX-70 Land camera (1972).
Later life
In 1955 Dreyfuss wrote Designing for People, an autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
which features his "Joe" and "Josephine" simplified anthropometric charts. In 1960 he published The Measure of Man, an ergonomic reference.
Dreyfuss was the first President of the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA).
Death
On October 5, 1972, at their home in South Pasadena, CaliforniaSouth Pasadena, California
South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,619, up from 24,292 at the 2000 census. It is located in in the West San Gabriel Valley...
, Dreyfuss and his wife, Doris Marks, who was terminally ill
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
, committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. They were found in a car, killed by self-inflicted carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
poisoning. Earlier that year, Marks had been diagnosed with liver cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...
. The design company, Henry Dreyfuss Associates, remains after his death.
External links
- Video on Dreyfuss's design for Honeywell thermostat and for his Bell Telephone, at Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation....