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The Teague: Design & Beauty DVD is ready! Available first on Amazon CreateSpace. It contains 10 minutes of extra interview footage of Bill Moggridge, Harry Teague, and Craig Vogel. Click the link below to order: https://www.createspace.com/449285 A biography of the life and work of the American designer, Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960). A documentary by Jason A. Morris As a determined and ambitious man from a tiny rural town in Indiana, Walter Dorwin Teague struck out on his own to find his dream in New York City. After developing a career as an illustrator, he found himself bored in an unfulfilling career. After a trip to Europe, Teague found inspiration in modern art, design and architecture and he decided to create a new profession: industrial design. This decision led to the design of many great items such as the classic Kodak camera, Steinway pianos, Steuben glassware, Boeing Aircraft and more. Selected for the Newport Beach Film Festival, San Diego Design Film Fe...

I just launched the Kickstarter fund raising campaign to complete the Teague documentary . Here is a short video describing the story and a preview of some the clips. This feature length documentary will tell the story of his life, his rise to prominence, his turbulent relationship with his rebellious son, and the stories behind some of his greatest designs.  The inspiring story is told through hand-drawn illustrations, photographs, product designs, interviews, narrative, animation and film. Only $3500 left to go! And 29 days to raise it. What does my contribution go towards? Everything to complete the movie and get it out to the audience. Such as voice overs, music, printing, DVDs, and film festivals. Production, I’m happy to say, is finished. And I just completed the rough cut. So, I need your help to get these last post-production tasks complete. Some of the rewards include a DVD of the movie, illustration stills, and posters. Designed by Ronald Paul Vie...

  The Successful Design Business Practices of Walter Dorwin Teague Part 4 of 5  Design Research and Designer Cultural Sensitivity versus Market Surveys  ( click here for part 1 ,  part 2 ,  part 3 ) Designers at the boards in the New York Teague office. About 1940. Photo by Stowe Myers.     Teague believed in the designer’s intuitive sensitivity of culture and understanding of the client and end-user, to lead them to the best design solution.  Teague expresses the limitations of marketing and surveys in this speech in Detroit 1960: “These people can’t tell you what they are going to like three years from now- that’s been completely proven; but they can’t even tell you what they will like today if you’ve never seen it.   So the designer will learn next to nothing from the quiz programs some companies conduct at great expense.  But the designer should be aware of and sensitive to the trends that are moving in this small,...

The Successful Design Business Practices of Walter Dorwin Teague Part 2 of 5 Walter Dorwin Teague in his office-photo WDTA archives Gaining New Clients: Role Playing with Raymond Loewy and Walter D. Teague How did the early industrial designers sell themselves to new clients?  Raymond Loewy and Walter D. Teague answered this question during a conference in 1946 entitled “Industrial Design: A New Profession” held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.  They demonstrated this by having a mock discussion between designer and client, with Teague acting as the potential client. What is interesting about this discussion is that much of the conversation sounds the same as our discussions with clients today with some notable exceptions.  Here is an excerpt: Raymond Loewy:  …Mr. Teague, let us try to discuss it together.  Would you like to take the part of the client? Walter Dorwin Teague:  All right, fine. Well, Mr. Loewy, I know that you ...

I just finished editing this video showing the designers and architects of Walter Dorwin Teague's New York office in 1940.  Shot by C. Stowe Myers and provided by his son Charlie Myers. I think that it's interesting seeing the air brushed renderings, scale truck models, drafting tables, cigarettes, alcohol and wild parties.  Sorry about the video quality, it wasn't transferred well, I hope to get a better digitization of the film soon. If you'd like to follow the progress of the Walter Dorwin Teague documentary, check back at this blog or Like the  Facebook Page.