[TMC] Why GPR-90s Look So Good

[Jim Haynes]

But there's also design by non-artists - home made ham equipment, for
instance, can look very good or very ugly.  And non-consumer electronics
probably doesn't rate the attention of an industrial designer very
much.  Although in the days of Big Iron computers design was very much
a part of the overall process.

Now in modern personal computers design has often been more artistic
than functional.  I'm thinking of those with "sculptured" front panels
which limit usability, like having only one slot a floppy drive can
possibly go into.  Some of the Dell designs of a few years back strike
me as especially awful.  There's one with a door that has to be pulled
up to insert a USB device in the front of the machine.  Makes me think
of pulling up a guy's shirt tail to give him an enema!

Dreyfuss and the 500 type telephone leads to an interesting observation.
If you look at the Model 33 and Model 35 Teletype machines, also
designed by the Dreyfuss firm, you see a similarity in profile to the 500 
type telephone.  Don Gennaro of Dreyfuss did a lot of work for Teletype.

jhhaynes at earthlink dot net