Dieter Rams work is fascinating to me because it is as good an example I've ever seen of work which is simply timeless. It looks as good today as it did then and it's baffling why the rest of the world doesn't look this good and considered, it's not as if there are any extra materials used in these products compared to other similar goods?
Dieter Rams is German industrial designer closely associated with Braun, having worked from the 50s right up until the 90s as the lead designer of many a classic piece of design which has influenced countless industrial designers, most notably in todays world Jony Ive at Apple.
I also feel Rams' principles and work is relavent as he's an advocate of the Swiss style of design, objective, functional, undemanding and efficient. Not ruling over your life and being overbearing as a piece of design etc. It's a 'german' attitude to have and fits with the Swiss design ideology. I feel studying his product design and his famous 10 principles they align to the Swiss style of graphic design greatly.
Dieter Rams' 10 Principles of Good Design
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"Design should not dominate things. Not dominate people. It should help people." - Dieter Rams
Dieter Rams has gone on record to say Apple is the only product design company in todays world which he still believed does "good design" and abides by his principles too. Could Apple be a sort of rekindling of modernist design as an antidote to todays filled and cluttered culture?
A lot of Jony Ive's designed are clearly influenced by Braun and Dieter Ram's designs, some predated by 40 years or even more.
Braun ad in the 70s, even this looks very Swiss design, with the tight grid and use of large heading type and Helvetica
Sketches by Rams in the 60s
Very gridlike and use of simple shapes and parallel lines
Beauty in the simplicity. So much thought and subtletly in the products which today we may take for granted with concave buttons perfect for function
Braun T3 Pocket Radio 1958.
One of the main inspirations for the revolutionary iPod click wheel. Some 40-50 years earlier
SK2, 1958
Hugely influenced...
Braun product programmes, late 60s. I think these are beautiful and adhere to Swiss design themselves - it would be interesting to create some sort of programme, or specification book allowing you to learn/have a go at creatinn Swiss design yourself. In terms of ready made grids, colours to use, fonts to use, breakdown of the fonts etc. An idea anyway
MOVING FORWARD
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I also feel in the second stage of my research and asking what the future of graphic design is - it'll be interesting to see if we'll look forward and take design somewhere new or simply come full circle. As modern graphic design is still relatively new, it's not as old and rooted in history as modern fashion which goes in circles, so will design go in circles and will we reject history in the face of todays global culture?
I think a great example of this is how much Apple has come to the fore in the last decade, to put it in bluntly it's almost like a second coming of the modernist design of Braun and Dieter Rams. A minimal, considered and pleasurable product in a world full of clutter. So will graphic design look backwards more than ever as design inspiration from all over the world is so easy to access in todays world or will designs merge and collaborate more than ever.
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