Short stories from designers who shaped our world.

When Design got to the Moon

Raymond Loewy was commissioned by NASA to design the interior of the SKYLAB platform. He said they could surely send a space station to the Moon; although, if they wanted to put a human inside, they better talked with him. Engineers at the NASA Marshall Center stressed the need for functionality, reliability and ergonomic precision, but Loewy persuaded the need for amenities and a porthole. When they came back to Earth, the astronauts acclaimed Loewy in the Oval Office. They said “It was that little window (the porthole), what allowed us to observe our home in Earth and so avoid the stress of being in Space.”

Of storks, belief and semiotics

Ronald Shakespear is known as the Master of Design in Argentina. He planned and designed the signage for the Subway, the City and the Hospitals in Buenos Aires. When the director of Durand Hospital saw that Ronald used a stork as the maternity symbol, he said, angrily: “You must know, Shakespear, that storks do not actually deliver babies”. But it turnet oud to be the most succesful of the signs. Hospitals requested more storks, we printed them for glass doors too. “It seems like people do believe that storks bring babies. And I do too!” said Shakespear.