The Interface: IBM and the Transformation of Corporate Design, 1945-1976 (A Quadrant Book)
"This study is as essential for historians of postwar American architecture, corporate culture, and applied cybernetics as it is a vital archaeology of our current world of digitized experience, in which few aspects of daily life have not be restructured by the science and business of computing." - Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University"Getting a look inside the box, and figuring out who stuffed the wires in there, is one of the pleasures ofThe Interface...'The world once wondered: What would a computerized world look like?'The Interfacereminds us of the question, and tells us who answered it." -The Daily"This handsome, wide-ranging book makes clear that IBM's integrated design effort, in which a vision of the power and potential of information technology was married to a protean but cohesive aesthetic,  is the forerunner of and model for Apple's equally--but by no means more--influential design achievement." -The Atlantic"Harwood's Interface offers an insightful, engaging, and exquisitely researched account of the design of one of the twentieth century's most recognizable brands and most ubiquitous objects, the IBM computer." - Margaret Maile Petty, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ, in West 86thWinner of the 2014 Alice Davis Hitchcock Award from the Society of Architectural Historians"In this fascinating book, John Harwood shows clearly and convincingly how architects and industrial design consultants calculatedly worked with IBM to shape the public image of the corporation and its products.The Interfaceis eye-opening." —Henry Petroski, Duke University, author ofThe PencilandThe Essential Engineer"This is not only a brilliant but a necessary book: design is the future of computing; the IBM design team run by Eliot Noyes was the most important in commercial history, and helped shape not only the industry but the modern world. The book almost couldn’t help being brilliant, given the extraordinary richness and depth of the design team Noyes assembled—a richness never equaled in design history—with Saarinen and Roche, Paul Rand and the Eames Studio plus Noyes himself contributing everything from architecture and graphics to industrial and machine design, films and museum exhibits. Anyone who cares about modern computing, modern design or the future of technology needs this book." —David Gelernter, Yale University