Dieter Rams was born 20 May 1932 in Wiesbaden, Hessen. He is a German industrial designer who trained and worked as an architect for a few years until he joined the electronic devices manufacturer Braun. Within a few years he became their chief of design, a position he held for almost 35 years. During his tenure, he and his team designed many iconic devices ranging from record players to furniture to storage systems.
He is also credited with the memorable phrase “Weniger, aber besser” which basically translates into “Less, but better”. Dieter Rams used graphic design, form, proportion, and materiality to create order within his designs. His work does not try to be the center of attention, rather he allows his work to become part of the environment through precision and order.
Work at Braun
in 1954 the Braun brothers asked the tutors of the recently founded Ulm School of Design to advise them on product design and recruited a design team including Rams. When he arrived at Braun, Rams applied his architectural skills to the design of exhibition sets and offices, but became increasingly interested in products. In 1956 he worked with the Ulm tutor Hans Gugelot on the development of the SK4 radio and record player. Abandoning the traditional wooden cabinet, they devised an unapologetically industrial metal case for the SK4 with two pale wooden sides. The operating panel was positioned on the top next to the turntable, rather than hidden away at the side. The plastic lid also gave the SK4 its nickname – “Snow White’s Coffin”.
Braun SK4
In terms of colour coding, the steel plate case of the audio units was in white or charcoal grey with an aluminium coverlid. The operating elements were pale or dark grey except for the green on/off switch. Adhering to these codes ensured that, at a time when technology was changing rapidly, consumers could be confident of learning how to use each new Braun product quickly and efficiently.
10 Design principles
Back in the late 1970s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design? As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principles for what he considered was good design.
- Good design is innovative-
The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.
- Good design makes a product useful-
A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product while disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
- Good design is aesthetic-
The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
- Good design makes a product understandable-
It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
- Good design is unobtrusive-
Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
- Good design is honest-
It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept
- Good design is long-lasting-
It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
- Good design is thorough down to the last detail-
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
- Good design is environmentally friendly-
Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
- Good design is as little design as possible-
Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.
Jony Ive has long acknowledged Dieter Rams as his inspiration and talks about Rams designing “surfaces that were without apology, bold, pure, perfectly-proportioned, coherent and effortless”, he could equally be talking about the iPod. “No part appeared to be either hidden or celebrated, just perfectly considered and completely appropriate in the hierarchy of the product’s details and features. At a glance, you knew exactly what it was and exactly how to use it.”
Below are examples to show comparisons between Apple designs and Dieter Rams designs for Braun
My views
I think the majority of Dieter Rams products amazingly beautiful, clean and simple and I aspire to own the snow whites coffin. When I look at the designs he did back in the day for Braun they look timeless and wouldn't look out of place in todays households. His 10 design principles can still apply to today design world, but at the end of the day they're his own opinions and I only believe in some of them such as honesty, understandability and detail.
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