Koons, Irvin L., 1922-

Name Entries

Information

person

Name Entries *

Koons, Irvin L., 1922-

Computed Name Heading

Name Components

Name :

Koons, Irvin L., 1922-

Koons, Irvin L.

Computed Name Heading

Name Components

Name :

Koons, Irvin L.

Koons, Irv

Computed Name Heading

Name Components

Name :

Koons, Irv

Koons, Irv 1922-

Computed Name Heading

Name Components

Name :

Koons, Irv 1922-

Genders

Exist Dates

Exist Dates - Date Range

1922-03-14

1922-03-14

Birth

Show Fuzzy Range Fields

Biographical History

Irv Koons was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1922. As a young man, Koons became interested in typography while working in his father's print shop. Koons studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York before being drafted into the army in 1942. During the Second World War, he served in the China, Burma, and India Theatre as art director for the Army's Information and Education Program. While stationed in New Delhi, Koons helped organize the first International Art Exhibition held in India and was instrumental in the founding of the National Art Gallery of India. Following the war, Koons studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France. After returning to New York, he worked briefly in the publishing industry as a graphic designer and illustrator before establishing his own industrial design firm, Irv Koons Associates, Inc., in the late 1940s.

During a career which spanned nearly fifty years, Koons earned a reputation as one of the most innovative and influential designers in the packaging industry. He has won awards in nearly every major packaging competition, including being named Packaging Person of the Year by the Packaging Designers Council in 1982, an honor which had been bestowed only three times previously. His clients have included Revlon, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. Inc., Consolidated Cigar Corporation, Clairol/Bristol-Myers, C. F. Mueller Company, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Scott Paper Company, and American Can Company, manufacturer of Dixie Cups.

Koons's work demonstrates a special affinity for repositioning familiar products by creating a fresh presentation which resonates with contemporary consumer culture. In his view, the package serves as a perpetual "silent salesman" for the product. According to Koons, reliance upon expensive advertising and promotion is unnecessary for products to be commercially viable in a competitive marketplace. Because most products are similar in quality, packaging provides the consumer with a means of differentiating between competing brands. Koons's extensive use of market research studies enabled him to gain a better understanding of consumers' lifestyles and to construct demographic profiles which proved invaluable in the creation of packaging which appealed to large segments of the buying public. By immediately communicating all of a product's positive attributes, the package presents a unique personality which can motivate consumers to buy a particular brand and continue to use it following their initial purchase.

Koons has worked tirelessly to promote a better understanding of the role of packaging in the successful marketing of commercial products and a greater appreciation for the historical importance of packaging. Koons has lectured and taught extensively and his packaging designs have been featured in leading industrial design publications. He developed a packaging education curriculum for New York University's School of Continuing Education which included intensive professional seminars on packaging design and product marketing.

Koons believes that the industrial design community, which has directed so much of its creative energies to influencing the buying habits of a largely affluent consumer population, has a broader social responsibility to extend this prosperity to those who are less fortunate. Koons has served as a cultural attache to the State Department and directed the first international packaging exhibition which traveled under the auspices of the United States Information Agency. He was also founding director of the International Design Assistance Commission, providing voluntary professional design consulting services to developing nations in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program. Koons designed a fifty-foot stained glass wall depicting Biblical events which serves as the centerpiece for the main conference room for the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

From the description of Irv Koons Papers 1946-1996 (bulk 1955-1985). (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 79941530

eng

Latn

External Related CPF

https://viaf.org/viaf/78586668

https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2008057778

https://id.loc.gov/authorities/no2008057778

Other Entity IDs (Same As)

Sources

Loading ...

Resource Relations

Loading ...

Internal CPF Relations

Loading ...

Languages Used

Subjects

Band

Brand loyalty

Brand name products

Brylcreem hair preparation

Camay soap

Charities, Jewish

Comet cleaning compound

Consumer behavior

Consumer goods

Consumerism

Consumer panels

Consumers

Consumers

Consumer satisfaction

Consumers' preferences

Corporate image

Crest toothpaste

Dash detergent

Dawn detergent

Dixie paper cups

Dutch Masters cigars

El Producto cigars

Graphic arts

Gulden's mustard

Hefty paper cups

Hefty paper plates

H-O prepared cereal

Industrial design coordination

Industrial designers

Knorr sauces

Luden's cough drops

Marketing research

Market surveys

Muriel cigars

Numero Uno cologne

Oxydol detergent

Packaging

Packaging

Packaging

Packaging

Point-of-purchase displays

Product coding

Scotties tissue paper

Seagram whiskey

Southern Comfort bourbon whiskey

Trade associations

Trademark infringement

Trademarks

Wishbone salad dressing

Nationalities

Activities

Occupations

Legal Statuses

Places

Convention Declarations

<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>

General Contexts

Structure or Genealogies

Mandates

Identity Constellation Identifier(s)

w62n673h

29969550