Icon: IBM Selectric Typewriter by Eliot Noyes

Fifty years ago, the IBM Selectric typewriter was introduced to the public. In the 25 years that followed, more than 13 million of the typewriters were sold. The machine, designed by Eliot Noyes over a period of seven years, transformed typewriting by allowing the use of different fonts and dramatically increasing the speed at which most people could type. Unlike other typewriters, which struck the paper with hammers, it used golf ball-like type heads embossed with a full set of alphanumeric characters. The ball zipped along in close proximity to the paper, tilting and rotating as necessary to lay down characters on the page almost instantly. Thanks to that head, the typewriter was the first of its kind to eliminate carriage return.

The aesthetic design of the Selectric was the responsibility of Eliot Noyes, an architect and industrial designer who served as consulting design director to IBM for 21 years. Noyes drew on some of the sculptural qualities of Olivetti typewriters in Italy. The result was a patented, timeless shape, and a high-water mark for IBM’s industrial design and product innovation.

The US Post office has included the Selectric in the new series of stamps in honor of Pioneers of American Industrial Design.

IBM Selectric Typewriter, by Eliot Noyes

Monday, August 1st, 2011

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19169One Response2011-07-31+21%3A10%3A05Daily+Icon to
“Icon: IBM Selectric Typewriter by Eliot Noyes”

Morganne Says:
January 30th, 2016 at 2:17 AM
Technically, Leon Palmer created the ball that drove the IMB Selectric. Eliot Noyes created the design, but Leon Palmer's design of the ball is what made it work.

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