Tom Hardy talks about Eliot Noyes and about the importance of observation. From an interview with Bret Smith in 2007. Copyright 2007 and 2008, Bret H. Smith. All rights reserved.

In 1961 IBM introduced a revolutionary electric typewriter, the Selectric I, which replaced the standard typebars with a moving interchangeable spherical "golf ball" printing element, while the carriage remained fixed. Development began in 1951, and the sculptured housing was designed starting 1959 by Eliot Noyes, FIDSA (see below). In 1971, a later version, Selectric II, entered the market. By 1975 Selectrics accounted for about 75 percent of the US electric typewriter market, which soon after went south when typewriters were increasingly replaced by personal computers. Typewriters were developed in 1872 by Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) and James Densmore. They also developed the QUERTY keyboard to slow down the typing speed so that the mechanical linkages (typebars) would not jam. In 1932, Dr. August Dvorak proposed a more practical typewriter keyboard with the most-used letters in the middle bar, but opposition to change by professional typists and teachers prevented its adoption. In 1932, the Olivetti Company in Italy introduced the first portable typewriter, the MPI. It was also the first to be "styled", by Aldo Magnelli and his brother,Roberto , an abstract artist. In 1935, Ollivetti's Studio 42 typewriter, designed by Alexander (Xanti) Schavinsky, a former Bauhaus student, and architects Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini, debuted. It set the typeform of the modern typewriter. That same year, the Swiss firm of Ernest Paillard introduced the first inexpensive portable typewriter, the Hermes, engineered by Giuseppe Prezioso. It became the most popular choice of journalists and reporters. The electric typewriter was invented in 1920 by James Smathers, but IBM marketed the first commercially successful one in 1935. In 1936, Olivetti engaged Italian industrial designer Marcello Nizzoli (1887-1969) for all its typewriter design. He designed the Lexicon 80 in 1948, and the famous Lettera 22 in 1950.