"Question everything generally thought to be obvious"

I took a stroll to the Design Museum on Sunday to have a gander at Dieter Ram's exhibition. Despite only a small part of the gallery open due to preparations for Designer of the year, what I did see was really great and this time I did actually spend longer in the gallery than in the amazing design shop. That's always a good sign!

I knew little about Dieter Rams apart from a few Braun products and some furniture design, so I didn't really know what to expect but from the start your greeted by a snapshot of his 10 point design ethos expressing what makes good design:


Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design makes a product understandable.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is long-lasting.
Good design is thorough down to the last detail.
Good design is environmentally friendly.
Good design is as little design as possible.

Here's a few of my favorite pieces. I think its easy to see where products such as apple get their minimal style influence from. For me, feeling like i want to own all the retro pieces (especially a Braun radio) shows that the design hasn't dated and still could remain in a modern market place whilst the balance remains prefect between both style and practicality. Have a look at a short interview with Dieter Rams below.




"Good design - real design is centered on the user."
At the exhibition there was also a mini section exploring ergonomics. Ergonomics looks at problems or situations that can be improved through design. There was some really interesting experiments that included looking at how medical emergency equipments works and how it can be improved for efficiency to studying the layout of a Sky remote control. I particularly liked the experiment that looked into trying to stimulate what its is liked to be an older driver with ailments such as arthritis and restrictive movements. The result was a funny looking suit below that mimicked these restraints however the real world use is in fact that these studies will improve safety and car design for the older generation.




So the lesson, brilliant design is a solution that is both innovative and serves a purpose. The best of last years design can now be seen at the Brit Insurance Awards. Which funnily enough, for a brief, I was sent there yesterday. See the next post for more details.