http://3tags.org/article/inventing-the-future-with-syd-mead
70sscifiart
“I worked as a kind of advisor with Philips Electronics of Eindhoven for twelve years. I designed some real products that were made in the factory and shipped and people bought them.
One time, I was designing a TV set. I had zinc cast mechanical drawings from the factory that was making the molds for the whole case. I went at it as I would design a prop. A very fascinating, wonderful prop for a Sci-Fi movie. [laughs] Here’s the hole there for this knob. Let’s think of it, not as a hole for a knob to go in, but some kind of plug-in receptacle for magic. I did these little gouache sketches, about 8x10, for six designs.
The marketing managers of Spain, Italy, England, Germany, France, Canada and the United States liked my designs better than [those of] any of the staff at Philips who had been doing TV sets for half their professional lives. They were so constrained by what they knew they could or couldn’t do. I didn’t care. Those guys didn’t like me anymore.”
