Marc Harrison

Marc Harrison, (July 1, 1936- September 22, 1998) was an industrial designer and educator whose work aligned with the idea of universal design that makes products easier to use for people with disabilities as well as people without disabilities.

As the result of a brain injury when he was 11 years old, Harrison had to relearn basic functions such as walking and talking and thus gained inspiration for this career in industrial design.

Harrison wanted to make the world more accessible for all people with or without disabilities.

His work followed the idea of “Universal Design” in which products are designed for both disabled and non-disabled people without separate features or additions.

He advocated for people with disabilities and the elderly, creating products that were held to a higher standard, changing the level all inventors must achieve.

Harrison taught people to live on his legacy of improving products and major projects for a universal design everyone can use.

Harrison attended Pratt Institute for industrial design and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1958.

Following Pratt, he earned his Masters of Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1959.

After college he took a brief stint of freelance designing in New York City.

Harrison took a position teaching at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he became instrumental in establishing the Division of Architecture and Design.

Harrison influenced the subway systems in New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Harrison invented two prototype mobile blood-collecting systems for the Red Cross that changed the way of comforting donors of varying ages, sizes, and physical abilities by his accommodations and was later patented by the Red Cross in the 1970s.

He was located in Boston’s Red Cross, and his students initiated a five-year project to research its projections on the nation.

The work was to determine if the Red Cross blood programs have the ability for readily access various sites.

They also had to use design technologies that accommodated donors of various ages, sizes, and physical abilities.

The Red Cross patented the work of Harrison and is used throughout the country.

A five-year research and demonstration program inducted Harrison as project director.

This was sponsored by the International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO).

The goal of this project was building a demonstration house with experimental steel housing.

ILZRO, awarded grants to RISD, the company Harrison worked for, to construct a house demonstrating their work of universal design, beginning in 1971 in Foster, Rhode Island.

The experimental steel house explored building of new materials, accessibility for the disabled and nondisabled, as well as conserving all around energy.

The house was a one story of 1,100 square feet.

It was the most inclusive and accessible state-of-the-art house ever created during the time.

They included design tactics of complete accessibility, for example light switches were lowered to door knob height and operated by palm or fist.

Marc Harrison was the industrial designer that remodeled the Cuisinart Food processor in 1979 named the DLC-X.

Harrison’s brain injury created a passion for industrial design and launched his career in the field.

Due to his brain injury, his motor skills were damaged and it made him strive for a higher standard, designing products to make it easier on the consumer who may have a disability as he did.

The design philosophy of the time was that products should be designed for those of average shape, size, and ability.

Though the intention was that these products would work for many people, the elderly and disabled found products designed by this method to be difficult to use.

Harrison turned this philosophy on its head by deciding that products should be designed for people of all abilities.

This was the pioneering of a philosophy that came to be known as universal design.

Harrison incorporated this design philosophy into projects both at RISD and with his private consulting firm, Marc Harrison Associates.

Since universal design was first defined as "The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design" it has been applied to many fields, including instruction, technology, services, and the built environment.

Harrison's most famous design, which incorporated this philosophy, was the 1979 Cuisinart food processor (DLC-X).

Harrison redesigned the food processor with large and easily pressed buttons, large and easily grasped handles, and a bold readable typeface.

The new design was a success.

By designing a food processor that could be used by consumers with arthritis and/or poor eyesight, Harrison had created a product that was accessible to people with a wide range of abilities.

The Cuisinart food processor was extremely popular with the general public.

This created new standards for new models of technology and machinery, making it accessible for all people to use.

He died on September 22, 1998, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.