He is for sure a Beautiful Mind ! Born in Beuren (Simmersfeld), in Germany’s Black Forest. At age 25, Esslinger finished his studies at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd in Schwäbisch Gmünd. After vicious criticism of a radio clock he designed while in school, he started his own design agency in 1969, later renamed Frogdesign. For his first client, German avant-garde consumer electronics company Wega, he created the first “full plastics” color TV and HiFi series “Wega system 3000”.
His work for Wega won him instant international fame.[citation needed] In 1974, Esslinger was hired by Sony – Sony also acquired Wega shortly after – and he was instrumental in creating a global design image for Sony, especially with the Sony Trinitron and personal music products. The Sony-Wega Music System Concept 51K was chosen by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. As of 1976, Esslinger also worked for Louis Vuitton.
In 1982 he entered into an exclusive $1,000,000 per year contract with Apple Computer to create a design strategy which transformed Apple from a “Silicon Valley Start-Up” into a global brand. Setting up shop in California for the first time, Esslinger and Frogdesign created the “Snow White design language” which was applied to all Apple product lines from 1984 to 1990, commencing with the Apple IIc and including the Macintosh computer.
The original Apple IIc was acquired by the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and Time voted it Design of the Year. Soon after Steve Jobs’ departure, Esslinger broke his own contract with Apple and followed Jobs to NeXT. Other major client engagements include Lufthansa’s global design and brand strategy, SAP’s corporate identity and software user interface, Microsoft Windows branding and user interface design, Siemens, NEC, Olympus, HP, Motorola and General Electric.
In 1990 Esslinger was featured on the cover of BusinessWeek the only living designer thus honored since Raymond Loewy in 1934. Esslinger is a founding Professor of the Hochschule fuer Gestaltung in Karlsruhe, Germany and since 2006 he is a Professor for convergent industrial design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria.
In 1996, Esslinger was awarded an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts by the Parsons School of Design, New York. In 2009 Esslinger published A Fine Line in which he explores business solutions that are environmentally sustainable and contribute to an enduring global economy.
In recent years, Frogdesign has survived two acquisitions. In 2006 it was purchased by Flextronics. Soon afterwards it was purchased by the leveraged buyout firm KKR as part of a group several of Flextronics units and packaged into a software company called Aricent. Prof. Hartmut Esslinger is a Master of Strategic Design with The Beijing DeTao Masters Academy (DTMA), a high-level, multi-disciplined, application-oriented higher education institution in Shanghai, China.
In short words, Prof. Esslinger describe himself so: “…At age 25, I founded “frog design” in Germany and expanded the company to the United States in 1982.Together with my partner and wife Patricia Roller I built the company into the World’s most prominent and successful strategic design agency. In 2005, Flextronics acquired the majority of frog and since 2006 frog is a business unit of Aricent, owned by prestigious private equity pioneer KKR (Kravis, Kohlberg, Robertson).
Today, frog employs more than 1000 strategists, designers and technology specialists in 14 studios in the United States, Germany, Holland, Italy, South Africa, Ukraine, India and China. During the last 42 years, I have worked with some of the most prestigious global companies and in some cases such as Sony, Apple, Louis Vuitton, SAP and Lufthansa, I helped them to convert their technological competences and entrepreneurial desire into global brands.
I passionate to educate and mentor young designers: I am a founding professor of the Hochschule fuer Gestaltung (University for Design) in Karlsruhe, Germany and from 2006 to 2011, I was a professor for convergent industrial design at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria.
Since October 2011, I am a professor in the DeTao Master Academy, Beijing and I leading a master class of strategicdesign at SIVA (Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts) within Fudan University, Shanghai. I also received a honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from the Parson New School of Design, New York as well as various lifetime achievement awards around the world.
Since I left my operational role, I am also consulting global companies regarding innovation and creative strategy. Critiques say that I was the first designer to bring human-driven, high-touch design to world of complex hardware and software technology. Business Week – where I was featured on the cover in 1990 – called me the most influential American industrial designer since the 1930s and the first Superstar of High-Tech Design”. For more information about his activity or to get in touch with Mr. Esslinger, we invite you to lollow the link below.