Syd Mead

For the Māori leader and academic, seeSidney Moko Mead.

Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019)^[3] was an American industrial designer andneo-futurist concept artist. He made designs for science-fiction films such asBlade Runner,Aliens andTron. Mead has been described as "the artist who illustrates the future" and "one of the most influential concept artists and industrial designers of our time."^[4]^[5]

Syd Mead
Mead in 2007
Born	Sydney Jay Mead (1933-07-18)July 18, 1933 Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	December 30, 2019(2019-12-30) (aged 86) Pasadena, California, U.S.
Education	Art Center School
Occupation	Industrial designer
Years active	1959–2019
Known for	Designs forBlade Runner,Tron,Aliens,2010, andStar Trek: The Motion Picture
Spouse	Roger Servick^[1] (m. 2016)
Awards	Inkpot Award (1989)^[2]

Life

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Early life

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Mead was born on July 18, 1933, inSaint Paul, Minnesota. His father was aBaptist minister, who read him pulp magazines, such asBuck Rogers andFlash Gordon, sparking his interest in science fiction. Mead was skilled in drawing at a young age. According to Mead, "by the time I was in high school I could draw the human figure, I could draw animals, and I had a sense of shading to show shape. I was really quite accomplished at that point with brush technique and so-forth." He described himself as being an "insular child."^[4] Mead graduated from high school inColorado Springs, Colorado, in 1951. After serving a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Army, Mead attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now theArt Center College of Design,Pasadena), where he graduated in June 1959.^[6]

Career

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Voight-Kampff Machine, an example of Mead's artwork forBlade Runner

In 1959, Mead was recruited toFord Motor Company's Advanced Styling Studio byElwood Engel. From 1960 to 1961, Mead worked in Ford Motor Company Styling inDetroit, Michigan. Mead left Ford after two years to illustrate books and catalogues for companies includingUnited States Steel,Celanese,Allis-Chalmers and Atlas Cement. In 1970, he launched Syd Mead, Inc. inDetroit with clients includingPhilips Electronics.^[6]

With his own company in the 1970s, Mead spent about a third of his time in Europe, primarily to provide designs and illustrations for Philips, and he continued to work for international clients.^[7] Through the 1970s and 1980s, Mead and his company provided architectural renderings, both interior and exterior, for clients includingIntercontinental Hotels,^[8] 3D International, Harwood Taylor & Associates, Don Ghia, Gresham & Smith^[9] and Philip Koether Architects.^[10]

Beginning in 1983, Mead developed working relationships withSony,Minolta,Dentsu, Dyflex,Tiger Corporation,Seibu,Mitsukoshi,Bandai, NHK andHonda.^[11]

Mead's one-man shows began in 1973 with an exhibit atdocumenta 6 inKassel,West Germany. His work was later exhibited in Japan, Italy, California and Spain.^[11] In 1983, Mead was invited byChrysler Corporation to be a guest speaker to its design staff. He created a series of slides to provide visuals to the lecture, and the resulting presentation was a success. It was later expanded and enhanced with computer-generated images specifically created at the requests of several clients, includingDisney,Carnegie Mellon University,Purdue University,Pratt Institute and theSociety of Illustrators. In March 2010, Mead completed a four-city tour of Australia.^[7]

In 1992, he participated in the production of aTurboGrafx-CD video game,Syd Mead's TerraForming.^[12]^[13]

In 1993, a digital gallery consisting of 50 examples of his art with interface screens designed by him became one of the first CD-ROMs released in Japan. In 2004, Mead co-operated withGnomon School of Visual Effects to produce a four-volume "how-to" DVD series titledTechniques of Syd Mead.^[7]

In 2018, Mead published his autobiography, titledA Future Remembered.^[14] Regarding his work, Mead said, "the idea supersedes technique,"^[7] and that "I've called science fiction 'reality ahead of schedule.'"^[15]

In film

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Mead is best known for hiswork on films such asBlade Runner. Some of Mead's concept art is visible in the background of the second image.

Mead worked with major studios on the feature films:Star Trek: The Motion Picture,Blade Runner,Tron,2010,Short Circuit,Aliens,Timecop,Johnny Mnemonic,Mission: Impossible III,Elysium,Tomorrowland andBlade Runner 2049.^[3]^[16]George Lucas created theAT-AT for hisStar Wars saga based on art by Mead.^[17] Mead also contributed to the Japanese filmSolar Crisis. In the 1990s, Mead supplied designs for two Japaneseanime series,Turn A Gundam and the unfinishedYamato 2520.^[16]

In May 2007, he completed work on a documentary of his career with the director Joaquin Montalvan entitledVisual Futurist:The Art & Life of Syd Mead. The short 2008 documentary film 2019: A Future Imagined, also explored his works. Mead also appears in movie documentaries such asDangerous Days: Making Blade Runner andMark Kermode'sOn the Edge of Blade Runner, and promotional materials such as the DVD extra forAliens and a promotional short film about the making of2010.^[18]

Personal life

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Mead was in a relationship with Roger Servick; the couple married in 2016.^[19] They established a publishing extension, Oblagon, Inc., in Hollywood^[20] and relocated in 1998 toPasadena, California, where Mead continued to work.^[21]