This week’s selection is “Dieter Rams: Ten Principles for Good Design” by Klaus Kemp.
If you’re not familiar with German industrial designer Dieter Rams, you should be. The designer, now retired, set the direction seen in many of today’s contemporary designs, including Apple through his inspiration of former top Apple designer Jonathan Ive.
While working primarily for consumer product company Braun, he is associated with the Functionalist school of industrial design, where the design of a product should be based only on its purpose and function.
His strategy is one that I deeply appreciate: “Less, but better”.
This strategy is so essential, yet often misunderstood in the tech world, where things tend to be added and fewer things are subtracted. The result can be a design that is overly complex, has more points of failure and expensive. Keeping things simple is the essence of good design.
This book attempts to convey those design approaches through a series of essays and images, primarily of Rams’ works throughout his design career.
The book includes a discussion of Rams’ design philosophy, Ram’s manifesto, and a conversation with Rams himself. Of course, Rams’ Ten Principles for Good Design are included, and I shall not reveal them here.
One hundred of Rams’ very best designs are highlighted in many pages at the conclusion of the book, and these images will certainly inspire any designers.
Many Fabbaloo readers create products, devices or systems, and each requires a design. Why not try to make that design as simple as possible through Dieter Rams’ functionalist approach?
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Via Amazon
