Tom Hardy (designer)

Hardy's early life was spent in Alabama^[17] where he graduated from Hueytown High School in 1964 and pursued his undergraduate education in industrial design at Auburn University (1964–1970)^[18] under Eva Pfeil (German) and Walter Schaer (Swiss), former students at the famed Ulm School of Design in Germany.^[19][20] During his graduate work in the History and Sociology of Technology and Science at Georgia Institute of Technology (1995–1996), he consulted with Georgia Tech to create CoLab, a unique multi-disciplinary innovation laboratory that integrated engineering, marketing and industrial design for industry-sponsored projects.^[21][22]

Early in his career, Hardy was the industrial designer of numerous award-winning IBM products,^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]} including the original IBM Personal Computer introduced in 1981.^[23][24][25] During the 1970s, he also designed advanced industrial design concepts for 'single user computers' during the infancy of personal computing.^[25] His work included a human-centered design model in 1973^[25] to complement the IBM engineering prototype of SCAMP^[26] dubbed by PC Magazine as "the world's first personal computer".^[27] Examples of Hardy's advanced PC concepts are published in the book: DELETE: A Design History of Computer Vapourware^[25]

As corporate head of the IBM Design Program,^[3][4] Hardy directed worldwide brand-design identity operations in concert with preeminent designers Paul Rand^[28] and Richard Sapper.^[29][30] His design leadership accomplishments have been cited in notable publications, including a London Business School Case Study that documented Hardy's role in development of the first IBM ThinkPad notebook computer (1992)^{[31][16][32][33][34][14][35]} together with a new differentiated product personality strategy. This work focused on providing more innovative character to help revitalize IBM's brand image in the 1990s.^{[16][14][35][15][36][37]}

Later an independent consultant upon retiring from IBM in 1992, Hardy's work with Samsung Electronics (1996–2003)^[5][6] involved creating a strategic brand-design approach of duality: "Balance of Reason and Feeling", while integrating a comprehensive design management system and innovation strategy into the corporate culture.^[38][39] His introduction of brand-design infrastructure elements that were definable, repeatable, measurable, scalable and actionable has been cited in business publications as strategic assets that resulted in a unique identity for Samsung and helped elevate the company's global brand image and brand equity value.^{[38][40][41][7][42][43]}

As a methodology for Hardy's consulting work, he developed Verbal-Visual Framework (VVF) , a brand-design management tool that identifies symbolic value. VVF builds strong emotional brand connections and trust with customers, together with guiding contextual brand-design personality across omnichannel touchpoints such as products, packaging and communications to ensure strategic cross-modal brand alignment. A VVF example is Hardy's work with Ford (2005) where he conducted verbal-visual perception research with target customers and created a brand-design framework for their first crossover vehicle, the 2007 Ford Edge. At the 2006 Detroit Motor Show, Mark Fields, President of Ford Motor Company, The Americas stated: “Edge underscores the bold, American design direction for all Ford vehicles going forward.” Peter Horbury, Ford Executive Director of North America Design also remarked at the event: "Edge is not an off-road adventure vehicle, and it doesn’t look like one. The inspiration for the Edge is contemporary design and an adventurous state of mind.”

Hardy's diverse consulting project experience includes: Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola, Ford, Home Depot, J.P. Morgan, Lenovo, Lowe's, Maytag, Merck, McDonald's, Microsoft, NEA, Polaroid, Porsche, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Steelcase, Turkcell, Verizon and Xerox PARC. (See References)

Hardy currently serves as Professor of Design Management and Graduate Coordinator at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).,^[1][2] and has conducted corporate executive education workshops on innovative Design thinking and Scenario planning for companies such as Porsche,^[44] Steelcase.^[45] and Turkcell

In 1992, Hardy was invited by the U.S. Presidential transition team to participate as a member of President Bill Clinton's Roundtable on Design.^[46] The purpose of the event was to create ideas on how innovative design can contribute to America's competitiveness, sustainability and inclusiveness.^[47] Following the Roundtable on Design, he was selected to testify before the 103rd Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology as to the importance of design innovation in commercialization of technologies and U.S. competitiveness.^[48] Hardy also participated in another government design initiative in 1993 as Chair of a National Endowment for the Arts' Design Program working group to propose a White House Council on Design.^[49] And in 2000 he was appointed to the Presidential Design Awards Jury for Federal Design Achievement in Graphic Design and Industrial/Product Design^[50]

Hardy has also been involved in nation-related projects such as: (1) Field research in context of economic development for Northern Thailand, (2) Project with the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry for strategic use of renewable materials, (3) Consultation with Saudi Arabia Commission for Tourism and National Heritage in context of developing tourism for strategic economic diversification, (4) U.S. Information Agency project on brand-design strategy in the free-market economy of Post-Soviet Estonia.

The 2007 anniversary issue of PC Magazine highlighted Hardy's innovative management leadership role in the original IBM ThinkPad development process and deemed him 'Innovator of the Year 1992'.^[33] In 2016, two products directly influenced by Hardy during his IBM career were selected by Time Magazine as being among "The 50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time". They are: (#5) the first IBM Personal Computer 5150 and (#21) the iconic IBM ThinkPad 700C. The 50 products were cited by Time as "The tech that forever changed the way we live, work and play".^[51]

In the 2023 documentary film "Modernism, Inc." role as former head of the Corporate IBM Design Program, Hardy reflected on IBM Design Program history in context of when Eliot Noyes, Paul Rand and Charles Eames were the corporate design consultants and their leadership transformed the brand image of IBM through design.

His brand-design leadership work has been cited in: "ThinkPad: A Different Shade of Blue", "The Race for Perfect", "Samsung Rising”, "World Design: Nationalism and Globalism in Design", "Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware", "Paul Rand", "Richard Sapper", “Eliot Noyes”, “Paul Rand: The Idealist/Realist", "Management of Strategic Alliances", “Redesigning Thinking”, “Irresistible Change”, Business Week magazine, Time magazine, The New York Times and Journal of Design History.

The following are awards for Hardy's industrial design:

• Industrial Designers Society of America Gold IDEA – 1980 (USA)
• Premio SMAU Innovation Award – 1977 (Italy)
• iF Product Design Award – 1983 (Germany)
• I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review Awards – 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983 (USA)

• Salone del Mobile Milano Conference
• International Design Conference at Aspen
• Industrial Designers Society of America Conference
• Design Management Institute Conference
• American Center for Design Conference
• Taiwan Industrial Design Conference
• Japan Society Symposium
• Goethe Institute Workshop
• National Endowment for the Arts Workshop
• United States Information Agency Estonia Workshop
• TEDx Talks
• Museum of Design Atlanta
• Art Center College of Design
• Auburn University
• British Royal College of Art
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Columbia University
• Savannah College of Art and Design
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Pratt Institute
• Nike World Headquarters
• Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)