Kahn urged Bressler to become one of the people who works between engineers and marketing departments to make products easier to use. Or to add sizzle - ``differentiation,'' in modern business parlance - to make them easier to sell.
Bressler took the famous architect's advice. Now, more than three decades later, at age 51, he is one of the leaders in the field of industrial design, which has seen its ranks double to about 20,000 in recent years.
He served as president of the Industrial Designers Society of America in 1989-90, and as the group's board chairman the next year. ``He has been a player in the industry for 25 years . . . he has helped set a course for the industry,'' said Bob Schwartz, executive director of the society.
His 10-person firm, the Bressler Group, in the basement of the Marketplace Center, 2400 Market St., has had a notable influence on products ranging from household wares to X-ray scanners, from bicycle seats to sailboat design, from telescopes to stereo speakers.
Bressler's team mostly shuttles up and down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, working with clients from Boston to Virginia, but it also flies off to work with more distant customers.
In other fields, it takes a huge firm to have an impact, Schwartz said. But one or two industrial designers can dramatically change a whole product line and have a profound influence on lifestyles and safety.
And, he said, the Bressler Group has certainly done that. For example, Bressler more than 20 years ago designed a consumer telescope that was so appealing to the market that it's still a top seller today.
