Article
01. Lumon Incentives in Severance
Ms Cobel uses a Lumon fingertrap in Severance
To define Severance’s look, production designer Jeremy Hindle took inspiration from the mid-century quest for the "perfect workplace." He’s mentioned Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche’s modernist John Deere Headquarters in Illinois as an influence, and the series finally used the same architects’ Bell Labs building as the Lumon headquarters.
That vision of the ideal modern workplace extends to the interiors and the smallest details: the perfect paperclip, the perfect pen, and Innies receive absurd incentives, from finger traps to carved watermelons and glass cubes with their own portraits. Since the omnipresent Lumon manufactures everything, prop designers wanted to make every item unique and branded, so even the infantilising incentives use a Lumon powder blue palette, adding to the sterile feel of the offices.
02. Lumon Industries WoeMeter
Many props were created by prop master Cat Miller and her team, but some jobs were contracted out. The Lumon WoeMeter, which appears in Season 2, was created by Make3 in less than six weeks based on concept renders from the production designers. It’s typical of the often anachronistic tech at Lumon, which seems to have developed at a pace of its own, and it was made fully functional so actors could use it convincingly.
Make3 began by 3D modeling the machine’s components before before parametrically designing the entire machine. The main body was then milled from aluminum and side caps were made from solid titanium. The designers say they took the knobs from an early ’90s Nagra tape recorder and added meters powered by stepper motors and a series of LED displays controlled by an ESP-32 microcontroller on a custom-designed circuit board.
03. The MDR Terminals
Severance set director Andrew Baseman has said that the team realised early on that they couldn’t use real-world brands that viewers would recognise (hence why Severance escapes the blatant product placement of other Apple TV shows like Ted Lasso). This extends to the MDR terminals, which reinforce the retro-futurist aesthetic. Contradictory design features – a cathode-ray tube but also a touchscreen, a trackball for input – add to the enigma of what the data refiners are anyway doing.
The terminals look like toys more than high-tech computers by today’s standard, but they look like they must have been inspired by the 1977 Data General 6053, also known as the Dasher D2. Note that the Lumon keyboards have no escape key – a little Easter egg like that shows how much attention was dedicated to Severance’s prop design, even making meta references to the series’ themes.
04. Lumon Minicassette Recorder
Despite its advanced severance tech, Lumon still uses dictaphones from the 1960s
While everything in the Severed workspace is Lumon made, not all of the Severance props were created from scratch. That perfect-looking Lumon minicassette player? It appears to be a Philips LFH0085 from the later 1960s with the Philips logo removed and the Lumon logo added. It seems part of it may have been repainted. If you want your own, there are plenty on eBay. Prop master Cat Miller also tracked down genuine vintage erasers, which were stamped with the Lumon logo.
05. The Kier Paintings
One aspect of Severance’s design seems out of place with the rest of the visual style: the strange paintings celebrating Lumon’s founder Kier Eagan. Most of the pieces are pastiches of real-world works from different eras and styles, from Renaissance-era biblical imagery to Goya in the portrayal of an attack on MDR by Optics and Design and David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog in ‘Kier Invites You to Drink of His Water’.
Digital artist Hugh Sicotte planned how each painting would look based on references in the script, and the actor Marc Geller was hired to pose as Kier in different positions. The artist Danny Aviles, who also worked on storyboards for Severance, shared his iterations for the painting ‘Kier Pardons his Betrayers’ in the Instagram post above.
Conclusion
Severance’s prop design is a crucial aspect of its unique aesthetic, and the series has set a new standard for visual storytelling. From the retro-futuristic tech to the eerie corporate art, every detail is meticulously crafted to create a world that is both familiar and unsettling.
FAQs
Q: What is the significance of the Lumon Incentives in Severance?
A: The Lumon Incentives are a key aspect of the series’ visual style, reflecting the company’s emphasis on control and manipulation.
Q: Who designed the Lumon WoeMeter?
A: The Lumon WoeMeter was designed by Make3 in less than six weeks based on concept renders from the production designers.
Q: What inspired the MDR terminals?
A: The MDR terminals were inspired by the 1977 Data General 6053, also known as the Dasher D2.
Q: Why did the prop designers use vintage erasers in the series?
A: The prop designers used vintage erasers to add to the series’ retro-futuristic aesthetic and to create a sense of nostalgia.
