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Tom Hardy

Hardy, Tom

Author: 
Bret Smith
Birth/Death Age: 
1946
Tom Hardy

Design strategist Tom Hardy was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1946. He attended Auburn University, earning his Bachelor of Industrial Design degree in 1970. Tom started his career as an industrial designer at IBM and in 1989 became corporate head of the IBM Design Program. Now retired from IBM, he operates a brand-design strategy consultancy based in Atlanta, Georgia. Tom's early work for International Business Machines (IBM) included main-frame computers, printers, data entry terminals and office system products. During the early 1970s Tom was also given the task of researching the emerging area of personal computers and developed a number of concepts using advanced technology.After IBM decided to develop their personal computer using off-the-shelf rather than advanced technology, Tom designed the original IBM PC processor unit and keyboard that were introduced in 1981. His work as an IBM industrial designer won numerous awards including: Industrial Designers Society of America Gold IDEA, The Premio Smau Award (Italy), iF Product Design Award (Germany) and I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review. After serving as Design Center Manager at the IBM Lexington Kentucky facility which developed and manufactured typewriters, printers and keyboards,Tom went on to become the corporate head of IBM’s Design Program (1989-1993). In this capacity he directed worldwide design and identity activities in collaboration with preeminent designers Richard Sapper and Paul Rand, while coordinating fifteen design centers in Europe, Japan and the United States. Tom presided over the successful launch of numerous products including the highly successful ThinkPad notebook computer series in 1992 (one of Business Week’s “Hot Products” in 1993). The original ThinkPad, together with other award winning product designs initiated during his corporate leadership tenure, helped lay the foundation for revitalization of IBM's brand image and product offerings in the 1990s.

Sources: 
Interviews and personal correspondence with Tom Hardy. Images used by permission of Tom Hardy.
Copyright Information: 
I either own or have obtained the rights to the image(s) included with this article and grant industrialdesignhistory.com the right to post it(them) on its website and make use of it(them) in print media with proper attribution, or believe this use of the image(s) falls under the fair use doctrine.

IBM PC Keyboard

Tom Hardy talks about getting the details and performance right in developing the first IBM P.C. keyboard.

Sources: 
From Bret Smith's interview with Tom Hardy. © Copyright 2007 and 2010, Bret H. Smith. All rights reserved.
IBM PC Keyboard
Speaker: 
Tom Hardy
Copyright Information: 
I own or have obtained the rights to the image(s) included with this article and grant industrialdesignhistory.com the right to post it(them) on its website and make use of it(them) in print media with proper attribution.
I own or have obtained the rights to the video(s) included with this article and grant industrialdesignhistory.com the right to post it(them) on its website and make use of it(them) in print media with proper attribution.

Eliot Noyes, Gliders and Observation

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.

Eliot Noyes, Gliders and Observation
Speaker: 
Tom Hardy
Copyright Information: 
I own or have obtained the rights to the image(s) or video(s) included with this article and grant industrialdesignhistory.com the right to post it(them) on its website and make use of it(them) in print media with proper attribution.