Deconstructing Product Design

Round Thermostat

Henry Dreyfuss Associates and Carl Kronmiller for Honeywell, 1953

1. A critical but rarely discussed aspect of real-world product design is persuasion. Great product designers have historically been great pitchmen — from Raymond Lowey to Philippe Starck — able to excite and educate clients about design, which then empower the client leadership to bring their revolutionary products to market. Henry Dreyfuss was no exception to this rule, and it was likely his influence with Harold W. Sweatt, president of Honeywell, that actualized a project Dreyfuss had been thinking about since the introduction of his round Big Ben clocks in 1939: a round thermostat. He observed that rectangular thermostats, which were the only form factor ...