RAYMOND LOEWY

HISTORY AND CULTURE OF DESIGN

 The Man Who Shaped America, The Father of Streamlining and
The Father of Industrial Design

 BORN : November 5, 1893 Paris, France

 DIED : July 14, 1986 (aged 92) Monte Carlo, Monaco
 EDUCTATION : Electrical Engineering , University of Paris,1910
Masters in engineering, École de Lanneau, 1918
 STARTED HIS OWN FIRM :1929, by 1945- largest industrial design firm in U.S.
 It is estimated that at the peak of his career over 75% of Americans came into contact
with one or more of his products every day.
 THE STREAMLINE STYLE : (1930-1950) closed, streamlined forms that strongly
suggest speed, symbolic of the dynamism of modern times.
 “Between two products equal in price, function, and quality, the better looking will
outsell the other.”
 “The goal of design is to sell.”
 “The loveliest curve I know is the sales curve.”
Loewy’s classic transformation of the package - making both sides of the pack identical by
included: featuring the target on both sides
- replacing the green background with white - sharpening up the typography.
He was responsible for designing the dole deluxe dispenser for coca cola in 1947, as well as the dole
super dispenser in 1951.Loewy also applied for patents for his designs for a coca-cola 'refrigerator' (a
standing cooler) in 1945,an 'ornamental design for a truck body' in 1946,and a beverage dispenser with an
'ornamental design' in 1946.
In 1967, the shell company
approached loewy with a design
problem :
- its emblem was difficult to
distinguish from a distance, or in
poor lighting.

Earlier the logo was a mussel

shell, 1900 and was replaced by
scallop shell in 1904. The pecten
symbol currently in use
worldwide was designed in 1971
by loewy.The design and testing
process completed by loewy's
firm took more than four years.
one of the tests involved
hanging various prototype
pectens on poles where they
could be viewed by drivers
passing on a nearby british
motorway. Drivers were later
contacted for their opinions on
the prototypes.
Loewy was hired by jersey standard
to find a new name and design a
new logo for its esso brand.
he proposed 'exxon' and came up
with seventy-six rough pencil
sketches based on the word, placing
the visual emphasis on the double
'x.„ the two x‟s subliminally
recalled the 's‟s' in esso and thus
helped ease the transition from the
old name to the new.
 Porthole window which Loewy
deemed essential for astronauts
to peer into space. NASA
Study for a Space Station '70

Raymond Loewy working on space

capsule design

Skylab, Model of Living,a typical room Porthole for the appolo space
design for NASA‟s skylab space station. capsule

In designing Skylab, its 1973 precursor to the International Space Station that orbits the Earth today, NASA
called on the help of Raymond Loewy and other industrial designers. Loewy advised on the arrangement,
size, and even color scheme of the living quarters for the astronauts aboard the space station.
Though the defining characteristic of Loewy's legacy is the sheer breadth of his work, much of his early
career was spent designing locomotives for outfits like the Pennsylvania Railroad company. That's what gives
the 'PRR' designation to the PRR S1 steam train you see above.
Air Force One, color scheme and interior designed by Loewy for President John F. Kennedy.
Loewy redesigned the Studebaker car company's logo and produced famed designs like the Starlight in the
1950s and this 1963 classic, the Avanti. The Studebaker Avanti was designed in a very short period of time by
Loewy‟s hand-picked team of young designers, led by John Ebstein.
As with Studebaker, Loewy's work with the Greyhound Lines bus company involved both the creation of a
new streamlined logo and bold new designs like the Scenicruiser.