Deconstructing Product Design

Selectric Typewriter

Eliot Noyes, Bud Beattie, and Allan McCroskery, 1961

1. Soon after Eliot Noyes began working with IBM on a general design program, his firm was given the opportunity to evaluate the typewriter line of products. Noyes heard about an internal project inspired by a toy typewriter, which led engineers to revisit the classic Blickensderfer, an innovative typewriter invented in 1893 with a removable typewheel. Unfortunately, the project had stalled because the cylindrical shape of the typewheel had problems delivering good-quality type impressions. After much experimentation and research, a solution to the problem was discovered — a solution appropriately inspired by a lightbulb. Allan McCroskery, designer at Eliot Noyes & Associates ...