Written, produced, filmed, directed and narrated by Charles and Ray Eames in 1957, The Information Machine: Creative Man and the Data Processor was the first film The Eames Office made for IBM. It was commissioned by IBM’s then consultant director of design Eliot Noyes for screening at the IBM pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair.
IBM Pavilion - Brussels World Fair (1958)
Noyes, an accomplished architect and designer in his own right, had been instrumental in promoting Eames’ earliest furniture work while serving as curator of MoMA’s industrial design collection from 1939 – 1946. In fact, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen won the MoMA Organic Design Competition in 1940, sparking the meteoric rise of their careers.
MoMA – Organic Design in Home Furnishings (1941)
The Information Machine is a 10-minute (mostly) animated film detailing the need for and use of computers as decision making tools. Consistent with all of Eames’ work, The Information Machine presents its subject in a deeply humanistic light, leaving the viewer with the impression that computers are a natural product of human ingenuity and ultimately useful in society. It is, therefore, a wonderfully effective piece of corporate communication that promotes the computer as an accessible piece of technology that empowers man to make better decisions. Apple anyone?
Still 1: The Information Machine (1958)