Hartmut
Esslinger: Design Leader
One great example of this attitude of self-direction,
is the German designer Hartmut Esslinger, defined by BusinessWeek
as “the most influential industrial designer on the American
scene since the 1930s”. (Burrows,
2004)
He was only 30 years old when he quit the Fachhochschule (German
polytechnic), because he was sickened by the "ideas of beautification
and the highbrow chitchat of many colleagues." In his home
town of Altensteig, in the German Black Forest, he founded his
own design studio which he later renamed “frog design.”
Esslinger quickly became famous in the world of production, particularly
for his persistent questions: "Does this product really have
to look like this?” or, "Can't you make it completely
different?" For example: "Does a dentist's chair have
to look like an electrical chair? Or can a TV look like an old-fashioned
coffin?"
This clear view of what he wanted, and how to challenge his environment
drove his industrial design shop, founded in 1969 in Mutlangen
Schwäbisch Gmünd Germany, to become a global company
that has over 170 employees in 5 studios across the world.
Hartmut Esslinger is the prime example of a fearless, creative
leader. Beginning as a young man, he challenged the status quo
in industrial design and forged a highly effective design team
who followed his lead and helped to expand the project. Today,
“frog design” has had some of the market's most significant
success stories, including global product design strategies for
Sony, Louis Vuitton, Hewlett Packard and Apple Computer. With
its work for Microsoft, SAP, General Electric, Dell.com and Sun
Microsystems, frog also established itself as the leader in software
user-interface design and e-commerce solutions. (Esslinger,
www.frogdesign.com)
 
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