# Syd Mead - You don't know his name, but you absolutely know his work! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350 "2015-12-13T20:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/1 "2015-12-13T20:16:13Z")
I wondered who had designed the atmospheric cityscape for Blade Runner and this guy popped up. Syd Mead 82 years old! [I wikied him up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Mead)and it turn out his conceptual designs are everywhere in gaming, films like [Blade Runner, Aliens, Elysium, Gundum and Tron](https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GUEA_enUS594US594&q=syd+mead+&tbm=isch&gws_rd=ssl#tbm=isch&q=syd+mead+blade+runner) and throughout modern advertising. [Nice retro 60’s view of the future](https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/sets/72157622906191929/) Lots of wonderful images to review if you want to google his name. > [@](#): > > As the principal of his newly formed corporation in the 1970s, Syd Mead spent about a third of his time in Europe, primarily to provide designs and illustrations for Philips of Holland. His work for international clients continues to this day. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Syd Mead, Inc. provided architectural renderings both interior and exterior for such clients as Intercontinental Hotels, 3D International, Harwood Taylor & Associates, Don Ghia, and Gresham & Smith. His architectural clients recently have expanded to include the New York firm of Philip Koether Architects, for which he designed the interior of a Manhattan eatery. Design activity accelerated after the corporate and personal move to California in 1975. In 1979, projects began to include work with most major studios, on such feature films as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, followed by Blade Runner, Tron, 2010, Short Circuit, Aliens, Timecop, Johnny Mnemonic and Mission: Impossible III. Beginning in 1983, Mead began to develop working relationships with Japanese corporate clients, including Sony, Minolta, Dentsu, Dyflex, Tiger Corporation, Seibu, Mitsukoshi, Bandai, NHK and Honda as well as contributing to Japanese film project Solar Crisis. In the 1990s, Syd supplied designs for two Japanese anime icons, Yamato 2520 and Turn A Gundam. As a side note it turn out Siskel and Ebert were [not too thrilled](http://www.openculture.com/2011/08/blade_runner_is_a_waste_of_time.html) with Blade runner when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![maddmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@maddmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maddmatt)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/2 "2015-12-14T01:01:29Z")
He may not be a household name, but he’s hardly obscure. He self-publishes gorgeous collections of his work, and his Tron work is fantastic! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/3 "2015-12-14T23:36:15Z")
> [@maddmatt](#): > > He may not be a household name, but he’s hardly obscure. He self-publishes gorgeous collections of his work, and his Tron work is fantastic! It’s amazing to me he’s been doing this since the early 50’s. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/4 "2019-12-31T02:19:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Visual artist and futurist Syd Mead, who helped shape the look of influential sci-fi films including “Blade Runner,” “Tron,” “Aliens” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” died Monday of complications from lymphoma in Pasadena, Calif. He was 86. > **[Syd Mead, Visionary ‘Blade Runner’ Artist and Futurist, Dies at 86](https://variety.com/2019/film/news/syd-mead-dead-dies-blade-runner-tron-artist-1203453795/)** > > Visual artist Syd Mead, best known for his contributions to "Blade Runner," "Tron" and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," has died. He was 86. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/5 "2019-12-31T09:39:45Z")
wow he did a few computer games too … ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/6 "2019-12-31T11:22:08Z")
That’s a sad loss, he was very influential. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/7 "2019-12-31T22:55:50Z")
I had just thought about hime days ago. I just gifted myself a [Yoshimoto Cube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshimoto_Cube), one of which apparently appears on a shelf in a scene in Tron. Cool. And the ridiculously retro-futuristic stuff in _Blade Runner_. The video payphone from the far off in the future year of 2019. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/syd-mead-you-dont-know-his-name-but-you-absolutely-know-his-work/740350/8 "2020-01-02T21:00:08Z")
I do indeed know his name and have always liked his work. I remember a good, well-illustrated interview with him in _Starlog_ magazine back when \*Blade Runner \*first came out. May he rest in peace.