Ran from Jun 20, 2003 to Mar 5, 2004
Brooks Stevens Gallery

Brooks Stevens Design: The Legacy Continues examines how the design principles of legendary industrial designer Brooks Stevens live on through the work of Brooks Stevens Design Associates, the firm he launched in 1933 and led for nearly 50 years.

The Legacy Continues is part of a unique trio of simultaneous exhibits devoted to the legendary designer. A Milwaukee Art Museum exhibit is focusing on products designed by Brooks Stevens himself, and an exhibit at the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design is reviewing the extensive body of advertising and packaging design that Stevens created.

The MIAD exhibit explores how recent designs by Brook Stevens Design Associates integrate Stevens’ strong emphasis on eye appeal and intuitive usability with the computer technologies and team-oriented product design processes used by modern businesses. The exhibit is housed, appropriately, in the Brooks Stevens Gallery of Industrial Design at MIAD, where Stevens served as a teacher, mentor and advisor until his death in 1995.

The exhibit features approximately 50 products from the last twenty years that carry on the Stevens design tradition. Included are:

• Recreational products such as Evinrude Outboard Motors, Roller blades, Polaris snowmobiles and motorcycles, and Genesis Play structures for children;
• High-tech appliances such as electronic controls by Allen-Bradley/Rockwell, medical diagnostic equipment by GE-Lunar, a Yahoo Web Kiosk prototype, and a new fax design for Hewlett-Packard;
• Office and home products ranging from Eldon desk accessories to innovative shower heads by the Idea Factory;
• Tools ranging from power hammers, drills and saws by Milwaukee Electric to a new operator cab for Manitowoc Cranes.

Founded by Brooks Stevens in 1933, Brooks Stevens Design Associates is located in Grafton, Wis. It employs more than 30 design specialists and has a clientele of some 70 American and international corporations. It has received numerous awards for its work including the Industrial Design Excellence (IDEA) Award, the Appliance Manufacturer Excellence in Design Award, the Medical Design Excellence Award and recognition in numerous design publications.

The exhibit continues through March 27, 2004. Call MIAD at 414/276-7889 for more information.