Dieter Rams

File:Designer-Dieter Rams-at-Vitsœ.jpg

Professor Dieter Rams at Vitsœ

Professor Dieter Rams at the 50th Anniversary of Braun Innovation exhibition, Boston 2005

Dieter Rams (born May 20, 1932 in Wiesbaden, Hesse) is a German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun and the Functionalist school of industrial design.

Rams studied architecture at the Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden as well as learning carpentry from 1943 to 1957. After working for the architect Otto Apel between 1953 and 1955 he joined the electronic devices manufacturer Braun where he became chief of design in 1961, a position he kept until 1995.

Rams once explained his design approach in the phrase "Weniger, aber besser" which freely translates as "Less, but better." Rams and his staff designed many memorable products for Braun including the famous SK-4 record player and the high-quality 'D'-series (D45, D46) of 35 mm film slide projectors. He is also known for designing the 606 Universal Shelving System by Vitsœ in 1960.

Many of his designs — coffee makers, calculators, radios, audio/visual equipment, consumer appliances and office products — have found a permanent home at many museums over the world, including MoMA in New York. For nearly 30 years Dieter Rams served as head of design for Braun A.G. until his retirement in 1998. He continues to be a legend in design circles and most recently had a major retrospective of his work at the Design Museum in London.

Dieter Rams’ ten principles to “good design”

• Good design is innovative
• Good design makes a product useful
• Good design is aesthetic
• Good design helps us to understand a product
• Good design is unobtrusive
• Good design is honest
• Good design is long-lasting
• Good design is consistent to the last detail
• Good design is concerned with the environment
• Good design is as little design as possible

Trivia

Many people say it is obvious that Rams' designs have influenced Jonathan Ive of Apple, Inc., designer of such products as the iMac, iPod, and iPhone, as can be witnessed particularly in the iPhone's calculator application, whose design is based on the Braun ET66 calculator designed by Rams.

Examples of Rams' works

• 
  606 Universal Shelving System •1960
• 
  SK 61
• 
  Tonarmwaage •1962
• 
  T 1000 •1963
  T 1000 CD •1968
• 
  audio 310 •1971

References

• Scourtelis, Regine und Deimling-Ostrinsky, Achim (Fotos), "Manche mögen's pur", ZEITMagazin Nr. 42, 12. Okt 1990, Seite 80 - 88 [1]

External links

• Vitsœ page on Dieter Rams
• London's Design Museum page on Dieter Rams
• Designboom page on Dieter Rams
• Icon magazine interview with Dieter Rams