Marc Harrison (1936 – 1998) American Industrial designer

Marc Harrison (1936-1998) was an industrial designer from the United States.

Harrison sustained a significant brain injury in a sledding accident when he was eleven years old. Due to the crash, he had to relearn simple functions like walking and talking. Harrison gained experience and motivation for his future work as an industrial designer due to this incident and his lengthy recovery.

Education

To further his studies, he attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Beginning in 1959, he taught at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Based on ergonomic and human-factor considerations in his design work, he specialised in industrial and medical equipment in his design studio. This included the patented 1972 Red Cross blood-collecting procedure used in the United States and subway equipment for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. He was the principal designer for Cuisinart’s products in 1978 and redesigned the company’s food-processing line.

Universal Design

The design philosophy of the time was that products should be designed for those of average shape, size, and ability. Though the intention was that these products would work for many people, the elderly and disabled found products designed by this method to be difficult to use. Harrison turned this philosophy on its head by deciding that products should be designed for people of all abilities. This pioneered a philosophy that came to be known as universal design. Harrison incorporated this design philosophy into projects at RISD and with his private consulting firm, Marc Harrison Associates. Since universal design was first defined as “The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design” it has been applied to many fields, including instruction, technology, services, and the built environment.

Cuisinart Food Processor DLC-X

Harrison’s most famous design incorporated this philosophy: the 1979 Cuisinart food processor (DLC-X). Harrison redesigned the food processor with large and easily pressed buttons, large and easily grasped handles, and a bold, readable typeface. The new design was a success. By designing a food processor that consumers could use with arthritis and poor eyesight, Harrison created a product that was accessible to people with a wide range of abilities. The Cuisinart food processor was extremely popular with the general public. This created new standards for new models of technology and machinery, making them accessible for all people to use.

The Red Cross

Harrison invented two prototype mobile blood-collecting systems for the Red Cross that changed the way of comforting donors of varying ages, sizes, and physical abilities by his accommodations, and the Red Cross later patented them in the 1970s. He was located in Boston’s Red Cross, and his students initiated a five-year project to research its projections on the nation. The work was to determine if the Red Cross blood programs could access various sites readily. They also had to use design technologies that accommodated donors of different ages, sizes, and physical abilities. The Red Cross patented Harrison’s work and is used throughout the country.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Marc Harrison – Human Factors. Hagley. (2017, July 17). https://www.hagley.org/research/digital-exhibits/marc-harrison-human-factors.

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, September 12). Marc Harrison. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:25, July 21, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marc_Harrison&oldid=1043834861

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