rockpaperink

September 17, 2012

Selectric Typewriter

Eliot Noyes, Bud Beattie, and Allan McCroskery, 1961

Authors: William Lidwell, Gerry Manacsa

Soon after Eliot Noyes began working with IBM on a general design program, his firm was given the opportunity to evaluate the typewriter line of products. Noyes heard about an internal project inspired by a toy typewriter, which led engineers to revisit the classic Blickensderfer, an innovative typewriter invented in 1893 with a removable typewheel. Unfortunately, the project had stalled because the cylindrical shape of the typewheel had problems delivering good-quality type impressions. After much experimentation and research, a solution to the problem was discovered — a solution appropriately inspired by a lightbulb. Allan McCroskery, designer at Eliot Noyes & Associates, comments: "They were going nuts how to work this thing out. There was … a development engineer, Bud Beattie, and it was his job to get this thing to work. He went home and his wife was complaining about a light bulb that had blown. He screwed the light bulb and, like in the cartoons, the light went on. He quickly got a grease pencil, drew circles [on the bulb], and divided it up. This is it!" The Selectric typewriter was the first office product to advance the notion that office equipment should be attractive. Believing that a sculptural form would give the typewriter a timeless quality, Noyes worked with McCroskery to shape the typewriter body in the spirit of Isamu Noguchi, a sculpture by the sculptor who had provided art for IBM's headquarters. The Selectric was offered in a variety of bright colors, as well as custom colors — for example, Selectrics were sold to the University of Kentucky in Wildcat Blue. Combine curved lines, roundy edges, and a colorful palette, and you get a form factor tuned for women — who were, of course, the principal users of the product. Unlike a traditional typewriter, the carriage of the Selectric does not move when typing — minimizing its required desktop footprint — nor are there type bars to strike the paper. The Selectric uses a golf ball–size typing element called a "typeball" that moves along the fixed platen with each key press, tilting and rotating to deliver the typed character, number, or symbol through an inked ribbon. The typeball can be easily replaced with others bearing different typefaces, a significant step forward in word processing. Key response is much faster than type bars. In the event that the user can type faster than the electronics can handle, the Selectric is equipped with a storage system that holds the second letter in common combinations until it can be printed. The inked ribbons are enclosed in plastic cartridges that snap into place, requiring no threading and creating no mess. Use, like the aesthetic, is clean and simple. The Selectric line proved Noyes' contention that "good design is good business," capturing 75 percent of the U.S. typewriter market in just fifteen years. The Selectric keyboard is cut into a recessed region that looks scooped out, framing the keyboard and containing the hands without breaking the continuity of the lines. The curve extends downward from the back, giving the keyboard a slightly dished profile — an ergonomically superior profile to either a flat or stepped configuration in terms of typing and error rates. The keyboard retained a QWERTY layout, which was invented in 1878 to prevent the clashing and binding of type bars that would occur with rapid typing. Although the speed and mechanical refinements of the Selectric (and earlier typewriters) make QWERTY unnecessary, the standard persists despite higher-performing layouts. Lesson: convention often trumps performance.

Scott Henderson

Product Design

This design is based on one sophisticated, soft, pebble-like form for the main typewriter housing, which is then intersected by a single clean cut that forms the area where the typewriter keys go. The idea of intersecting one form with another to achieve a single functional composition is a contemporary idea and elevates the approach from just using crude enclosures to surround a mechanism. This results in a simple and less intimidating object.

Kritina Holden

Human Factors

The best part of this typewriter's design is the feel of the keys. The lightest of touch is required, the key tops are slightly concave, perfectly cupping the fingertips, and the vertical key travel is ideal. It allows fingers to fly confidently over the keys, typing incredibly fast — and the innovative printer ball design means that keys rarely jam. Built like a sleek tank, this typewriter has a solid, robust look and feel, providing the user with a feeling of confidence and control.

David Knaub

Mechanical Engineering

The miracle of the Selectric was its dancing print ball, an ingenious innovation over the bits of type on swing arms in a manual typewriter. Those swing arms were all of different lengths, which equated to a different inertial feel on the various keys. The Selectric's electro-mechanical connection between keyboard and paper allowed every key to feel exactly the same, enabling just about anyone to increase typing speed and productivity. I recall watching the ballet of the print ball in amazement. It moved faster than I could see! I marveled at the minds of those who created it.

Dori Tunstall

Design Anthropology

This typewriter broke the monotony of the typed page in the 1960s by reintroducing the possibility of multiple fonts and regular page appearance. The impact on academic publishing is illustrated in the differences in the quality of the layout and typography of the dissertations published after 1965 or so. Now, I know that the IBM Selectric Typewriter was the source of those differences.

Source: Deconstructing Product Design

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