Google Celebrates Raymond Loewy

Today Google is honoring Raymond Loewy and what would be his 120 birthday. I think Google did an awesome job (as usual) incorporating their logo into the daily “Doodle” on their home/search page. It looks like a drawing you would pull out right out of Loewy’s portfolio.

I remember learning about Raymond Loewy in design history class but like many things one learns in school, I sort of forgot how influential he really was. He was THE industrial designer before the term even existed. But his influence and range wasn’t limited to just “industrial design.”  He designed everything from logos to packaging to trains and automobiles to space station designs for NASA. Click here to read more about him on Wikipedia and I’ll bet you’ll be surprised that even if you weren’t aware of him before, you’ll know some of his work. I found an interesting article here on Gizmodo that calls him to a real life Tony Stark  (super genius/engineer/billionaire/Iron Man for those who are not into Marvel comics or movies or Robert Downy Jr.) I can see why they use this reference as comparison.

I almost always click on the Doodle to find out more about it. I appreciate that Google informs me of events/people/things that I either didn’t know about, or in this case, someone I had sort of forgotten about. Does anyone else find themselves clicking them to to learn more or do you find the flashy, fun games or videos are where your interest ends?

Loewy locomotive design drawing. Photo from Gizmodo