Legendary designer and concept artist Syd Mead passes away

Legendary designer and concept artist Syd Mead passes away

Image courtesy Dali Dimovski (SideQuesting)

One of the most influential names in sci-fi passes

Image courtesy Syd Mead

Syd Mead, concept artist, designer, futurist, passed away today.

You may or may not know the name Syd Mead, but there’s a very good chance that you’re a fan of his work. Born in 1933, Mead was the influential mind behind the look and feel of movies like Blade Runner, Alien, Tron, and Star Trek. His work inspired artists, designers, filmmakers, and video game developers for generations.

In other words, if you didn’t like his work directly, then you probably liked all of the projects that people made because of his work. The cyberpunk genre wouldn’t be what it is today without his influence, and the idea of “modern futurism” was essentially his doing. Mead was a force for equality in his work, too, blurring the lines of gender and love, humans and robots, present and future, to create some of the most iconic worlds imagined.

Syd Mead, 1933-2019.