Hi friend - Thank you for reading!
I thought today we would look at the most influential product designers throughout the decades and the work they are known for. However, before I do that, it may be worth explaining what a product designer actually is. Let's break down the title.
- 'Product': An item offered for sale.
- 'Designer': The person who plans and creates the form, appearance, function or workings of something up until the final version of it is made or built.
The product can be either a physical or digital product. But, as a non-designer working with designers, it is probably easier just to start by knowing if you need a physical or digital (or both types) product to be created. Then digging deeper down that path.
What you will find as a small business is that the product designer you work with will also potentially expand their thinking and expertise into the service, customer experience or branding part around the product. Simply due to the size of the team and how core the final product is to the overall business success.
So, the most influential product designers ever are:
- Jonathan Ive, 1967, UK, Chief Design Officer at Apple. Jonathan was with Apple when they launched some of their most iconic products that everyone knows today, such as the iPhones, MacBooks and the iPads.
- Dieter Rams, 1932, Germany, Chief Design Officer at Bruan. Known for his 10 principles of design.
- Arne Jacobsen, 1902 - 1971, Denmark. Arne was considered to be amongst the most influential architects and product designers of the 20th century and the reason why Scandinavian design is still loved today.
- Earl R. Dean, 1915 - 1972, USA. Bottle designer at Coca Cola. Earl and his team came up with the packaging design that legendary and still around the world today - decades later!
Now this is not an extensive list (way too much time to do that) and does not include digital product designers due to this design field being the latest offspring from physical product design. Basically, there has not yet been enough time to establish the most influential digital product design ever.
So, who are your product design heroes?
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