Here are the design stories of everyday material, "stuff," from cars to Dustbusters, phonographs to DVDs, that makes our lives easier, more exciting, and more comfortable through mass-production. Descriptive vignettes and over 400 illustrations of popular culture as it progressed through the 20th century. Each year is an illustrated double-page spread, showing how design evolved in a precise timeline. Learn fascinating stories behind familiar products, the men and women who invented or designed them, and how their designs came to life or, in some cases, failed. It is the story of how America rose to world leadership through its unique ability to bring household conveniences and technological benefits to all, at reasonable cost, thus raising the nation's standard of living. Major technological developments and new materials that made innovative designs possible are also identified. For the industrial designer or student of design, this is a fantastic history of the profession, illustrating connections to invention, architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and business. Written by a distinguished industrial designer, the book offers a unique year-by-year chronology, "what was happening when" in design, and names its movers and shakers.

House cleaning has been an innate human activity for centuries, but only since the early 19th century have mechanical devices replaced the physical hard labor (performed mostly by women). Mechanical carpet sweepers were replaced by manual suction cleaners, which in turn were replaced by electric vacuum cleaners in the early 20th century. Innovative inventors, who sequentially improved vacuum cleaners as electricity became commonly available, made these advances possible. Many early manufacturers failed, but some, such as Bissell, Hoover, Eureka, and others, became household words, as they competed for global dominance with improved features, performance, and appearance. This book describes the fascinating people who made this possible, as well as the economic, cultural, and technological contexts of their times. From obscure beginnings 200 years ago, vacuum cleaners have become an integral part of modern household culture.

This is the story of the wonders of refrigeration. For thousands of years, humans coped with heat by devising natural cooling systems of ventilation and evaporation. They harvested and stored natural ice and snow for summer usage. By the mid 1800s, men began to develop huge machines to make artificial ice using scientific and mechanical principles. By the early 1900s engineers developed electric domestic refrigerators, which by 1927 became affordable and convenient household appliances. By then, a more sophisticated public demanded more modern looking appliances than engineers could produce, and a new breed of designers entered the manufacturing world to provide them. During the Depression, such modern designs not only significantly increased falling sales, but resulted in the modern appliances and kitchens we now enjoy. Today refrigeration enables the preservation of perishable food for distribution around the world, makes tropical climates habitable for millions, saves lives with medical applications, and powers space flight.

As the Great Depression started in 1929, several dozen creative individuals from a variety of artistic fields, including theatrical, advertising, graphic, fashion, and furniture design, pioneered a new profession. Responding to unprecedented public and industry demand for new styles, these artists entered the industrial world during what was called the 'Machine Age,' to introduce 'Modern' design to the external appearance and form of mass-produced, functional, mechanical, consumer products, formerly not considered 'art.' The popular, modern designs by these 'Machine Designers' increased sales and profits dramatically for manufacturers, which helped the economy to recover; established a new profession, 'industrial design;' and within a decade, changed the fact of American products from mechanical monstrosities into sleek, modern forms expressive of the future. This book is about those few dozen industrial designers, and how they founded, developed, educated, and organised today's profession of 50,000 practitioners, who design all those attractive and useful products you love.