All About Yves Behar
September 22, 2007 | Levent OZLER
Two years ago, Yves Béhar stood before 300 Coca-Cola bigwigs at the company's Atlanta headquarters and asked an impertinent question: "If Raymond Loewy were alive today, would you still hire him?"
Loewy, the father of industrial design, was the guy responsible for updating the iconic contour bottle in the mid-1950s, as well as everything from the graphic design on Coke's steel can to the look of its vending machines and coolers.
The man is still idolized at the company; indeed, this gathering honored Loewy's daughter, who was in the audience.
Béhar had been invited by Coke's VP of design, David Butler, to speak broadly about design's role in a global enterprise.
"I wanted them to get back to thinking across all functions of the business, from a logo to a bottle to a dispenser to a fountain," Béhar says.
"And I wanted them to ask themselves if they'd allow themselves, today, to let somebody have such a wide-ranging impact on their brand - to lead them by design.
Béhar, founder of the San Francisco design firm fuseproject, had his answer six weeks later: Coke hired him.
more: fastcompany.com/magazine/119/all-about-yves.html (146)
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