Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1932. It was his grandfather who was a carpenter that greatly influenced him.  Dieter Rams, who was an interior designer, was given employment with Braun in 1954. It was in the early 1960s when he was assigned to be the head of the product design department. Rams and his team successfully applied the practical design principles, which were employed by the Bauhaus associates. Rams designed a variety of products including flashlights, lighters and pocket radios, however it was his equipment relating to audio and television sets that made him famous and known as a symbol of the German design Renaissance of the 1950s and 1960s. 

Rams, among other products, designed the Phonosuper SK 4 radio/record player combination, the TP1 portable radio/record player and the T1000 world receiver. Furthermore, the Studio 2 system consisted of individual modules-record player with matching tuners and speakers.  After this innovation, Rams was known as the pioneer of the modern stereo system. To further enhance his collection, Rams also invented the 606 shelf system, which is still in production today.

At the times of late 1970s, Rams was growing concerns related to the state of the world that evolved around him. Since according to him, good design could not be measured in a restricted manner, he set ten key principles for what he believed good design ought to be all about.

Audio 1 Kompaktanlage Braun, 1962

First, good design is innovative. The promises for modernization are not exhausted. Technological advancement is continuously contributing to new opportunities for innovation in design. However, innovative design always develops in accordance to innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

Secondly; good design makes a product useful. A product is purchased since there is a use for it, hence it is bought to be used. This implies that the product has to satisfy the client. It has to be not only functional but also psychological and aesthetically pleasing. According to this principle, good design emphasis the usefulness of such a product.

RT 20 Tischsuper Radio Braun, 1961

The third principle states that good design is aesthetic. The artistic qualities of a product is fundamental and collaborative to its usefulness, since the products that the individual use everyday affect that person and his well-being. According to Dieter Rams, only those products that are well-executed can be beautiful.

The fourth commandment of good design is that good design makes a product understandable.  The design clarifies the structure within the particular product. It can make the product communicate, since it is self-explanatory.

The fifth principle states that good design is unconstructive. This implies that products that fulfill a purpose are tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. So, their design should entail both a neutrality and resistance, in order to leave space for the user’s self-expression.

T 1000 World Receiver Braun, 1963

The succeeding principle entails that good design is honest. Such design is not there to make a product look or be more innovative that it is, it neither tries to make it more powerful or valuable that it really is. It does not try to manipulate the consumer with a promise that is not able to fulfil.  So an honest design represents what is there, and nothing else.

Principle seven states that good design is long-lasting. A design is not fashionable, and so it never appears outdated. This goes against fashionable design, since a fashionable design is bought for its fashionable outcome and used until the new fashionable item, but a long-lasting design lasts many years even in todays society that can be labeled as a throwaway one.

606 Universal Shelving System Vitsce, 1960

Good design is through down to the last detail, the eight principle implies. There is nothing in the design that is random of left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process shows respect towards the user.

The ninth principle is that good design is environmentally-friendly. This is so due to the fact that design makes an important contribution to the protection of the environment. It preserves resources and reduces physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Lastly, good design is little design as possible. Less but better is the motto of Rams. This signifies that design should concentrate on the essential aspects, and so the product is not loaded with non-essentials. It goes back to what is pure and simple.

Bibliography:

Shuffle Magazine. Dieter Rams: Ten Principles for good design. [Online] Available at: https://readymag.com/shuffle/dieter-rams/ [Accessed at 6th January 2014]

Bernard Polster, Claudia Neumann, Markus Schuler  and Fredrick Leven, 2004. The AZ of Modern design