In 1963, Kodak introduced its Instamatic 100 camera designed by Frank A. Zagara of Kodak staff. It could be loaded with film cartridges ready to shoot. Price was $15.95. The Instamatic won a Certificate of Design Merit from the Industrial Designers Institute, and was produced until 1966.

With the company on its last legs in 1961, new Studebaker president Sherwood H. Egbert called on Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) in desperation to design an innovative sports car.

Loewy had worked with Studebaker since 1936, designing, with Virgil Exner (1909-1973) and Clair Hodgeman (1911-1992), the lightweight 1939 Champion, the highly successful 1947 postwar models (with Exner), and, with Robert E. Bourke (1916-1996), the acclaimed 1953 hard-top Starliner and Starlight coupes.

In 1961 IBM introduced a revolutionary electric typewriter, the Selectric I, which replaced the standard typebars with a moving interchangeable spherical "golf ball" printing element, while the carriage remained fixed. Development began in 1951, and the sculptured housing was designed starting 1959 by Eliot Noyes, FIDSA (see below). In 1971, a later version, Selectric II, entered the market.

Chevrolet's new compact car, the Corvair, designed by Ron Hill and GM Styling Staff, entered the market in 1960, and received a coveted annual design award from the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI). To most designers, it was a welcome innovative design response to compact European imports, and hailed as a pointed departure from the tail fin and chrome excesses that dominated the previous decade in Detroit (see 1957 Chrysler "Forward Look").

The first automatic office copier to make copies on plain paper, the 914, is introduced by Haloid Xerox. A floor-mounted device, it was designed by James G. Balmer of Armstrong-Balmer & Associates, in collaboration with Don Shepardson, John Rutkus and Hal Bogdenoff of Xerox, who had developed an engineering prototype.

In 1947, Nathan Horwitt designed a wristwatch with a plain black face without numerals and a white disk marking the 12 o-clock position. The following year, his design was produced, without credit or compensation, by Zenith Movado. It was a prime example of design piracy, and Horwitt sued, but justice would take 27 years. In the meantime, the design was placed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in 1960, and become known as "The Museum Watch.".

The Secretary, a copying machine, designed by , 32, of Harley Earl, Inc. for 3M Co.,Thermo-Fax Division, was introduced by the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) in 1958. The product was awarded one of three National Awards and Medals annually by the Industrial Designers Institute (IDI) in 1958. Highberger was the youngest designer to ever receive the award for "Excellence in product design."

A complete new line of Chrysler Corporation cars, including Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial, were designed by Virgil Exner (see below), along with Henry T. King, H.T. Bannister, Clifford C. Ross, Carl Reynolds and Robert E. Bingham. It was called the "Forward Look," Chrysler's entry into a race with General Motors to see who can build the biggest tail fins. The "Forward Look" was a big hit.

Volkswagen of America (just established) introduced its Karmann Ghia coupé in the US. An alternative sleek new body style for the standard Beetle chassis, it was designed by Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, Italy. Sticker price was $2395.

Production of the 1200 coupé began in August, 1955. A convertible was added in August 1957, and both were produced for about ten years.

In 1956, only 70,000 Beetles had been produced for the US (19 million were produced by 1978).

Ford's Thunderbird, its first sports car, was designed by Bill Burnett, William F. Boyer, and Franklin Quick Hershey. It was introduced in 1955 to compete with Chevrolet's 1953 Corvette sports car, GM's answer to sporty European imports.

In their early forms, both cars were mostly caricatures of sports cars, concerned with superficial connotations of speed and maneuverability than with their mechanical accomplishments.