Managing Design: The Art and Colour Section at General Motors, 1927 1941

Abstract

This essay investigates industrial design as a business risk. I study General Motors (GM), a firm claiming so much power by 1941 that one might assume it faced no risks. But as Harley Earl styled vehicles as smooth, streamlined images of steel, GM managers wrestled with uncertainties about consumers' tastes, the technology for manufacturing car bodies, and the task of judging designers who as creative individuals defied ‘rational’ management. GM effectively dealt with its styling risks as it dominated the largest consumer market. Still, compared to the Cord 810, GM cars were not necessarily the most fashionable or innovative autos on US highways