Dieter Rams Took the art out of art and design. His view was that products should bring joy while we use them but should fade into the background otherwise. His Good Design principles have had a lasting influence on the design process of many industrial designers since and help to provide guidance to the design process in a world with an increasingly conflicted and confusing narrative. His work, especially for Braun could be interpreted as minimalist, however I think this would be a mistake. Minimalist art was trying to make a point by it’s minimalism, but the genius of Dieter Rams was to leave the space open where it did not need to be filled, rather than fill space with minimal information. One of his good design principles is unobtrusiveness. The product should find its place within the environment, rather than be constantly broadcasting it’s existence. If a product’s only purpose is as a tool to improve the life of the user, the designer should not feel the need to glorify it beyond this position. This idea is exemplified in his Braun record player. When using a record player, one intends to listen to music, and therefore any decoration and visual interest is redundant. The key features of the record player are connected only where necessary, using simple and consistent visual elements. In exploring this idea, he achieved another of his good design principles: It should be long lasting. By taking the cultural and artistic elements out of design his designs became transcultural. The colours and forms he used are the opposite of evocative, and so defy fashions and trends. Personally, I feel that although his work at Braun benefited greatly from this ethos, there is room in our environment for things that evoke emotion and nostalgia. I find his furniture, especially that which he designed for Vitsoe to be cold and unappealing. A lounge chair to me is a personal object, a place of rest and of refuge which one grows comfortable in, but in line with his ethos he has treated the 620-lounge chair as a tool for sitting in. I personally feel that I would have a hard time feeling comfortable and relaxed in it. Despite this Ram’s message and ideas continue to be relevant and enlightening, some even more so than when they were created. His principle of honesty in design is crucial, and yet much of what we buy today is constructed from little more than false promises. If the companies that sell us mobile phones, laptops, and cars were honest about what they were selling us, we the consumers would be making very different choices and perhaps leading better lives.