Designer Desire: Robert P. Gersin

Montage of Robert P. Gersin posterscredit

Health & safety is a necessary but mundane topic. It takes a talented designer to create interesting and eye-catching educational materials in the subject. Frederic H K Henrion was one such person, Robert P. Gersin was another.

We’ve brought together a number of the posters he designed in the 1970s for the National Fire Protection Association – and another – a ‘Plan for New York City’ for the Department of City Planning. They’re all in the possession of the Cooper Hewitt Collection, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.

I was unable to find any other work credited to Robert P. Gersin as an individual, although I found evidence of logo and branding (e.g. Simon Enterprises, Hackensack Medical Center and the Jamaican government) created by the organisation he founded.

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, none of his designs were available to purchase. In addition, not a lot could be found about the man himself except for this short obituary below:

Robert P. Gersin, an award-winning industrial designer, died of cancer Wednesday at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. He was 60 years old and lived in Manhattan.
Mr. Gersin, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and the Cranbrook Academy of Art, gained an international reputation through Robert P. Gersin Associates Inc., a company he started in 1959.
He received more than 350 awards for a wide range of designs, including interiors, products and corporate identity programs. In 1984 the company designed the logotype and corporate identity program for Sears, Roebuck & Company, and in 1988 it designed the interior for Casual Corner stores.
Mr. Gersin is survived by his wife, Ingrid; his mother, Belle, of Milton, Mass., and a brother, Barry, of North Cambridge, Mass.

New York Times, 20th October 1989