A Report On Dieter Rams And His Design Ideas

Dieter Rams, once head of design at Braun, was one of the most influential pioneers of design during the late 20th century. At Braun he attempted to introduce the world to functionalist industrial design. Functionalist design holds the priority that the purpose behind an object should be the driving force behind the design. Every decision should be made to maximize the objects ability to fulfil its intended purpose. For example, in a razor, its purpose is to cut hair. Therefore, every decision such as materials, shape, texture and cost, should be made focused on its purpose. This ethos is relatively unique and led to him becoming a world-renowned and inspirational designer. Recently companies such as Apple have began prioritising aesthetics over purpose.

To illustrate this, Apple newly removed the useful USB ports from the MacBook in order to make it more aesthetically appealing; depriving the user of the handy ports which were frequently used. Through a practical ethos, Rams was able to design products which dealt with their function excellently but also boasted a beautiful appearance. At Braun, Rams was determined to ensure that Braun’s products were easy to use yet he also wanted people to enjoy using them. Whilst designing a new sound system for Braun, he covered the whole front of the speakers with super-light membranes as a visual allusion to the clarity of the LE1’s sound while presenting it as a proud symbol of engineering innovation. Interestingly, throughout his collection of audio devices such as a loudspeaker, tape recorder and control unit, each unit was exactly the same size to give the user maximum flexibility in deciding how to combine and display them, either vertically or horizontally. This overarching consideration of how all his products interlinked allowed him to become a truly innovative designer.

In the early stages of a products design, he relied heavily on his sketching skills and preferred a line drawing approach. He employed the skills he already had from school and previous experiences in order to benefit his ideas. I believe he used sketching because it allowed total freedom over the products appearance; he didn’t allow himself to beconfined by the abilities of a computer program, particularly in the 20th century where CAD was new and developing. In the later stages of Dieter’s life he began working more on the main values of design; including the definition of his “10 Principles of Good Design”. For example, his fourth belief “Good design makes a product understandable” played a heavy partin his designing of products. Visually, his stereos are immensely simple and easy to use; this also embodies the theory that “Good design is honest” as he included nothing but the necessary features, leaving no possibility of selling the product with a façade of complexity. It’s function is understood by the user, and is also the driving force in the product’s design.

My research on Dieter Rams has shown me roughly the direction I want to focus my designing on, and the fact Rams’ used the function of his product as the driving force in its aesthetics. He also used this to choose materials, not those which were cheap, or brightly coloured, but allowed his product to carry out its purpose effectively. Furthermore, Rams has made me aware that I need a specific purpose, which can be a task to complete or problem to solve; which may lead to me amending my design brief. I also like his focus on sustainability and the fact he thinks deeply about what is to become of his product after its use is over. He does this exceptionally well through the careful consideration of simplistic and thorough design, allowing the product to be reused for a different purpose after its lifetime. He also made complex products understandable, documented in the design of the Atelier 3, a possibly multifaceted, difficult to understand product which was efficiently reduced to a simplistic, beautiful item able to be used by a vast range of users.