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LCARS
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The Futurist
Shawn Thornburg
�The single biggest problem in design is finding out from the client what it is that they really want.�[i] What eternal thinker, what genius could have possibly put the dilemma of industrial design into words so eloquently (truly, could it be more eloquent?): Socrates; Einstein; Newton; Edison; no�instead it was the greatest genius of them all, cinema�s first visual futurist Syd Mead. And what a genius he is: the man�s favorite color is Cherenkov Radiation Blue. What kind of mind likes something as precise as Cherenkov Radiation Blue? Regular blue couldn�t cut it; any blue with just one adjective just wouldn�t do; it had to be Cherenkov�Radiation�Blue. That, my friend, is the mind of a designer.
This designer began life prematurely on July 18, 1933 (I suppose he couldn�t wait to bless the world with his imagination). When he was four or five, his dad gave him some paper and he started drawing �scenic� views with cars, houses, people, trees, and miscellaneous picture elements; and by the time he was in fifth grade he knew drawing would be his life. (I, for one, am glad he figured that out.) So Syd set out to make that life a reality, and his first professional job after high school was character origination, background illustration, and inking animation cells for Alexander Film Co. in Colorado Springs, CO.
In 1953, Syd joined the Army Corp of Engineers, 590th Company, ending up in Okinawa, Japan, with the rank of training sergeant for a company of 150 men. �While he was [in] Okinawa, Syd sent some drawings to John Mueller Reinhart, then chief designer at Ford. Reinhart returned the drawings [and said] that if Syd was interested in automotive styling, he should go to the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena), one of the nation's foremost training grounds for automotive stylists and designers.�[ii] So in 1956, after having served in the military for three years, he presented his portfolio at Art Center and was accepted immediately; before his first semester began, he returned to Colorado Springs and striped cars and dressed windows for the local Lerner Shops store; when he was offered the position of tri-state store design manager, he declined, knowing that the title of �Tri-state Store Design Manager� wouldn�t take him where he wanted to go. He knew what he was doing. Granted, that�s my interpretation of it (he could have just wanted more time to goof off)�but it never hurts to wonder, right? Then he bought a used Oldsmobile sedan and drove back to L.A. for school. And, as everyone knew he would, when he graduated from Art Center in 1959 he was given �Great Distinction�. Then he took a job at Ford�s Advanced Styling Center in Dearborn, MI.
But even that wasn�t enough to tax his abilities: in 1961 he left Ford, turned down yet another job offer (this time by Raymond Loewy for design manager of the New York office), and started right up with the Hansen Company in Chicago, where he produced a number of works for Hansen, U.S. Steel, and Celcon. Of course, the fact that �Hansen tripled the salary Ford was paying and offered Syd complete creative freedom�[iii] couldn�t have hurt his decision in this matter. He continued to do a lot of work for Ford, however, including the �initial proof of concept for the entire revamped corporate logo series . . . the "Future" section of the Ford exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair . . . a convertible Ford pickup, similar to the new Chevrolet SS-R, and a futuristic camper based on Ford's full-size van chassis.�[iv]
He had become so successful by that point that he rented a five-acre orchard estate in Birmingham, MI. Then, two years later, he moved into a rented carriage house in Detroit with his three cars (a �48 Ford coupe, the aforementioned Olds, and a �56 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing coupe), and bought a house in San Marcos, CA, for his parents.
Now, in Syd�s defense, even geniuses are thrown a bad card, but only true geniuses turn it around in their favor: in 1966, after he had purchased a three-story Norman Tudor house in Indian Village, Detroit, he left Hansen and joined the New York-based Intergraph with his former account boss Lawrence Mullin; two years after that, Intergraph downsized and he lost his job. Here�s where the true genius comes in: Syd just rebounded right into his very own business partnership with a former Ford executive. It gets better. In 1970, when a hairy financial dispute arose, Syd rebounded again; but this time, he worked for himself. Thus was born Syd Mead Inc. Syd never worked for anyone again. He formed an account with Phillips C.I.D.C. that lasted twelve years, and went back to good ol� Raymond Loewy, but on the other side: Loewy was a client.
But that danged Chrysler Corporation had the gall to try tampering with Syd�s success and freedom by offering him the �Idea Man� position in a Brazilian studio. Well, you know Syd�he�s turned down more jobs than I�ve held, so he just did it again, thankfully.
Because of the choices he made, Syd had the opportunity to shape the very future we see on screen, and he bought a four-bedroom, three-car-garage townhouse condominium overlooking Doheny Beach in Capistrano Beach, CA, to boot. And this was all before he worked on his first movie! To date, Syd has designed elements for at least twelve different movies, including Tron, Short Circuit, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Johnny Mnemonic, and 2010: Odyssey two; and designed countless rides, planes, yachts, multimedia extravaganzas, and books full of his works. It�s surprising how many people have never heard of Syd Mead, but it�s also surprising how many of those people have seen his work and loved it, and never knew it.
I believe he designed his life, at least to some point. He knew where he wanted to go, and where he didn�t, and he made his choices accordingly. And it shows. After all, how many people would know of or even care about Syd Mead, Lerner Shops� premiere Tri-state Store Design Manager?
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[i] From interview posted on http://www.planetary.org/html/mmp/artis/meads/meads70.htm
[ii] From http://www.promotex.ca/articles/cawthon/2003/11-15-2003_article.html
[iii] From http://www.promotex.ca/articles/cawthon/2003/11-15-2003_article.html
[iv] From http://www.promotex.ca/articles/cawthon/2003/11-15-2003_article.html
  
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