Rendering for Industrial Design: A Look at Raymond Lowey

About This Drawing:
Raymond Lowey created this Skylab rendering on a dark indigo blue background. Line work is done mostly in white pencil and highlights are white gouache paint. The background color is very much a part of the object. See how much of the paper actually shows through the object. Refined details, like parting lines, fasteners, surface texture, and a strong indication of light direction give the viewer plenty of significant information. Notice how the drawing is done in three-point perspective, close to the horizon line, with the vanishing points far off to each side. This effect gives the object a convincing, life-like appearance, as it is one of the most familiar ways one encounters or sees the world around them.

Drawing Tips:
1. Allow the background color to be an active part of the drawing. Avoid overworking the surface. Keep the drawing fresh and unlabored, providing only important information.
2. Include a variety of details that help the viewer understand the object, including clues regarding material, function, texture, weight, scale, volume, and context. Whenever it makes sense to do so, include an indication of human scale, as it will lend volumes of information to the piece.
3. For a convincing portrayal of drawn objects, be aware the principles of perspective. Place objects in the center of the cone of vision and close to the horizon line.
4. Including light and shadow in the drawing will help the viewer understand the figure ground relationship, time of day, light source, and three-dimensional volume.
If you would like to work on this technique, use a Canson toned paper (or similar), Prismacolor colored pencils (or similar), pastel powder mixed with baby powder and gouache.

Lowey Drawings:
















About Lowey:
“The Shell logo. The Greyhound bus. The S-1 locomotive. The Lucky Strike package. The Coldspot refrigerator. The Studebaker Avanti. These and many other modern design icons were all created by Raymond Lowey, "the father of industrial design." Arguably one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, Loewy has been called the "man who shaped America." He left his mark countless times on everyday culture from household products, to transportation to corporate identity. Loewy was one of the first designers to understand the link between design and the economy. He expressed this connection by stating: "Between two products equal in price, function, and quality, the better looking will outsell the other."
Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), a brilliant designer and, without doubt, the most versatile ambassador of this discipline, became a design legend in his own lifetime. He was the most influential protagonist of industrial design that North America has ever known and has had a significant impact on the tastes and lifestyles of several generations. Loewy’s design philosophy still has an influence on the industrial design world today.” – This brief excerpt is from Art Net. See http://www.art.net/Lile/loewy/loewy.html

Design for Good

Creative powers focused on helping people. Good news.

According to Worldbike.org: "Worldbike is an international network of bicycle designers and industry leaders, and international development professionals, working together to provide transportation solutions and create income-generating opportunities for the world’s poor. All across the developing world, people use bicycles the way we use pickup trucks and school busses. However, the bicycles sold in developing countries are those designed for recreation and are ill-suited to carrying loads.

Worldbike designs higher-strength, longer-wheelbase bicycles with integrated cargo capacity. We conduct test markets to determine the ideal price levels, work with the bike industry to get the best quality parts and frames at the lowest cost, and partner with international development organizations like Kickstart International to sell and distribute the bicycles.

In May of 2007, Worldbike was selected by The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum to have two load-carrying bicycles in their “ Design for the Other 90% ” exhibit. The two bicycles selected are the Big Boda and the Worldbike."

Check out Worldbike .
Customize your bike with Xtracycle .

Observing Consumer Consumption

Artist and photographer, Mark Luthringer, uses photographs to index categories of the things he sees. The comparisons of similar objects and places are striking and thought-provoking. While one can see an amazing display of possibility, consumer choice and innovation through design, branding and manufacturing technology, alternatively one can see an overall sameness to the content, presentation, architecture and environment.

There is hope and despair in his work. Hope in that design and technology can provide solutions en-mass, and despair in the realization that, given the creative potential for a vast variety of design solutions, what this artist so adeptly points out, our objects of desire, such as homes, furniture, vacation destinations, meals, and clothes are generally the same and by comparison very uninteresting.

Luthringer’s compelling work clearly places him in the unique category of acute observer, curator and anthropologist. Architects and designers, both graphic and industrial, will be interested to view his work. Below is a portion of his Artist Statement, which along with his work can be found at his website, markluthringer.com .

"The typological array’s inherent ability to depict prevalence and repetition make it the perfect technique for examining the excess, redundancy, and meaningless freedom of our current age of consumption. Part of my intent with this work is to answer the question implied by the title of Robert Adams’s book What We Bought: If there is some kind of big sellout occuring, what are we getting in the deal?"

Problem Solving Lab

"The Design Science Lab is a rigorous, hands-on training in the problem solving, planning and design methodology called Design Science, pioneered by Buckminster Fuller and other visionaries. Participants engage in a whole systems and anticipatory approach to develop strategies to solve global and local problems that is based on innovation and thrives on transparency."

The 2007 Design Science Lab Workshop will be held in New York City at the United Nations and United Nations International School from Friday, June 22nd to Friday, June 29th.

Application Deadline: May 20th

Great Thinker: Buckminster Fuller

R. Buckminster Fuller is one of the more colorful historical figures of the design and engineering professions. He was the inventor of the Geodesic Dome, the Dymaxion House, and the Dymaxion Car, among other truly remarkable and amazing innovations.

Who was “Bucky”? He was a visionary who used his skills to solve problems – big problems like hunger, health care, illiteracy, and environmental issues. He developed a tool, something called the “World Game” in which these critical problems would be addressed.

“Fuller's game was intended to be a tool that could be used by people around the world to understand and develop solutions to what he called the real enemies of humanity…” according to O.S. Earth Global Simulation.

He was a design science practitioner. In Buckminster Fuller's words, design science is a process where individuals or teams of people can "make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.""

His teachings live on in a problem-solving institute, called Design Science Lab. The following is an excerpt from the DSL website: "The Design Science Lab is a rigorous, hands-on training in the problem solving, planning and design methodology called Design Science, pioneered by Buckminster Fuller and other visionaries. Participants engage in a whole systems and anticipatory approach to develop strategies to solve global and local problems that is based on innovation and thrives on transparency. Learn more about this training at The Design Science Lab.

See the online exhibit, Dymaxion House, developed by The Henry Ford Museum.

There is an old, rare docmentary film titled, “Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud”, which is well-worth viewing and will provide one with a wonderful introduction to many of Fuller’s brainstorms.

Bucky Books, Etc. available through online stores.

The 2007 Design Science Lab Workshop will be held in New York City at the United Nations and United Nations International School from Friday, June 22nd to Friday, June 29th. Application Deadline: May 20th

Also see
BigPictureSmallWorld , a website dedicated to the issue of climate change, and
Buckminster Fuller Institute .