Called 'the man who shaped America' and 'the father modern industrial design', Raymond Loewy must be one of the most influential designer of all time. He revolutionised the industry, working as a consultant for more than 200 companies and creating designs for everything from packaging to refrigerators, from cars to the interiors of spacecraft.
Loewy's design all had one thing in common. They were shaped by the MAYA principle - Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. His idea was that people will not accept solutions to design problems if the solutions are too different from current designs.
After a short period as a fashion illustrator, Loewy started his career in industrial design in 1929 by re-designing a copying machine for the British manufacturer, Sigmund Gestetner. The 28-years-old designer completed the task in three days and the design of the machine lasted for the next 40 years.
The Gestetner duplicator was the beginning of many design which used streamlining. He described this as 'beauty through function and simplification'. He spent the next 50 years streamlining everything from postage stamps and company logos to the interiors of stores. The famous Greyhound bus and Studebaker car show his use of streamlining in action.
He is perhaps most famous for his re-design of the Lucky Strike packaging. In 1940 , the President of the Lucky Strike Manufacturing Company, Goerge Washington Hill, be Loewy $50,000 that he could not improve the appereance of the green and red Lucky Strike . Loewy accepted the challenge. He changed the background of the packet from green to white. Then he put the red lucky strike target on both sides of the packet. This made it more eye-catching and greatly increased sales. It is now recognised as a design classic.
Loewy's logo design aimed at 'Visual retention'. He wanted to make sure taht anyone who saw the logo, even for a short while, would never forget it. He designed many highly visible logos for famous companies such as Shell Oil , Exxon, Greyhound and Nabisco.
By the mid 20th century, his industrial design firm was so famous that he could say 'the average person, leadinga normal life lose is bound to be in daily contact with some of the things, service or structure' designed by his firm.