Before illustrator Syd Mead became famous for his movie designs—including Blade Runner, 2010, and TRON, among many others (including the recent imaginative but flawed Michael Bay flick, The Island)—he made a name for himself as a lifestyle concept designer. Although Mead has been obsessed with vehicle designs since he was a student, his work dreaming up other aspects of “future” living are just as striking.
Like so many Mead designs, they envision a surprisingly accurate vision of an upscale modern future. His paintings, like this one commissioned by electronics manufacturer Philips in the ’70s, show a living room any fashionable entertainment consumer would be proud to sip a Big Gulp in. Minus the “three-dimensional image screen,” the control console looks like it could be found in any recent Bang & Olufsen catalog.
Mead’s own site has plenty of information about his work, including his staggering film and anime contribution lists—dude got hired to make a Gundam!—but I found this Philips piece at the unsanctioned “Syd Mead Project,” a small collection of images mostly scanned from a 1979 book, “Sentinel.”
Scans of old futurist illustrations, good or bad, are definitely welcome around these parts, so scan ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.
The Syd Mead Project [Scrubbles.net]
Bravo!
Hey, the original is here in my home!