Industrial Design at Syracuse University (Syracuse, 1978)
the history The theory and practice of design as a distinct profession is a phenomenon of the twentieth century. It was triggered by the great technological breakthroughs of the nineteenth century in energy sources and mechanical and electromechanical devices which assured an increase in productive capacity at the same time as they reduced human drudgery and brought the benefits of technology within the reach of everyone. The First World War provided the catalyst by leaving the United States with an expanded industrial capacity which could be sustained only by transformation into the production of products which could appeal to a newly-affluent general public. The demand for designers for industry to meet this need provided a magnet ot sufficient strength to draw men into it from other fields such as engineering (Donald Dohner), theatre (Norman Bel Geddes, Henry Dreyfuss and Russell Wright), advertising (Walter Dorwin Teague), architecture (Dave Chapman) and the fine arts (Donald Deskey). In addition it attracted a wave of talented foreign designers (Raymond Loewy, John Vassos, Peter Muller-Munk, Joseph Sinel, Paul Frankl and later the emigrees from the Bauhaus) who sought new careers for themselves in the practice and education of design in the United States. Certainly the concept of technical institutes for training mechanics and skilled workmen is neither new or unique in the United States. Such schools have existed since the colonial era as an American parallel to the ataliers and guilds which provided a steady supply of craftsmen in the Old World. However, it was in the United States that the practices of art and design were dignified by their recognition as proper academic disciplines worthy of a university degree. Syracuse University was not the only American university to welcome artists and designers but it was the first to offer a formal degree in the arts (1872).