FUN FRIDAY: Raymond Loewy, the man who designed America

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Chances are, you’ve never heard the name Raymond Loewy. Yet, he’s one of the most influential people in 20th century design. Along with other forward thinkers like Saul Bass and Ray and Charles Eames, he defined much of what we think of as cool mid-century design. He even designed the Coke bottle.

OK, he didn’t actually design the Coke bottle. A lot of folks think he did, and I thought he did until I did the research. The bottle we know today comes from 1915. But Raymond Loewy did design the machines that dispensed them. He came up with this slick-looking one:

…and his coin-operated bottle dispenser was made by the millions. Ask an older relative and I guarantee they’ll remember this design.

Loewy’s helped propel Coke to unquestioned leadership for 50 years. Raymond Loewy was a 20th-century industrial designer whose aesthetic brought style to everything from trains to pencil sharpeners. If you’re a fan of the “streamline” style of the 1940s, you have Raymond Loewy to thank for it.

He designed A LOT of stuff.

Loewy’s long career included logos for Exxon and Shell, cars for Studebaker, Hupmobile and Lincoln, and of course industrial equipment for Coca-Cola. These were the style icons in the days before Apple and Google, and when someone wanted a product that looked like a rocket ship, they called Raymond Loewy. Today, brand managers micro-specialize in very specific things. Not him. He drew logos (including the Shell logo used today.) He created real things and imaginary ones. To call his mind fertile would be an understatement.

Everything from Air Force One to Skylab was touched by his pen, and his 1946 home in Palm Springs (which he didn’t actually design but certainly approved) still looks cool today. So in a sense, you could say he did actually design things pretty darn close to rocket ships. I’ll stick in a bit of a brag here myself… I was in Loewy’s home a couple of decades ago. It was after he passed; I never met the man. At the time his house was rented out to a business. I have to tell you, it still looked pretty darn modern.

These days we’re more influenced by minimalist Germans like Dieter Rams. Dieter Rams created designs half a century ago that look like Apple should be selling them today. On the other hand, if you’re looking for real American style, you don’t need to look any further than Raymond Loewy. The Verge has a show of some of his best stuff… it’s worth looking at. Yes, it’s a ten year old article. But considering that Loewy died in 1986, it’s fair to say he hasn’t designed anything lately. If you’re a fan at all of that streamlined mid-century look, you’ll want to put some of his designs on your idea board.

It’s a fair bet that nothing you’ll find at Solid Signal was designed directly by Raymond Loewy. But, if you’re a fan of this article, you still might want to head over to the web site, call us at 888-233-7563, or fill out the form below.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.