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Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams [Paperback]

Klaus Kemp (Author, Editor), Keiko Ueki-polet (Editor)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)


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Book Description

February 15, 2010
In the more than 40 years that he spent working at Braun, Dieter Rams established himself as one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century. His elegantly clear visual language not only defined product design for decades, but also our fundamental understanding of what design is and what it can and
should do. Dieter Rams created ten rules of design more than twenty years ago. Sometimes referred to as the ten commandments, they are just as relevant today: Good design is innovative. Good design makes a product useful. Good design is aesthetic. Good design helps a product to be understood. Good design is unobtrusive. Good design is honest. Good design is durable. Good design is consistent to the last detail. Good design is environmentally friendly. Good design is as little design
as possible. Less and More elucidates the design philosophy of Dieter Rams. The book contains images of hundreds of Rams's products as well as his sketches and models from Braun stereo systems and electric shavers to the chairs and shelving systems that he created for Vitsoe and his own company sdr+. In addition to the rich visual presentation of his designs, the book contains new texts by international design experts that explain how the work was created,
describe its timeless quality, and put it into current context. In this way, the work of Dieter Rams is given a contemporary reevaluation that is especially useful in light of the rediscovery of functionalism and rationalism in today s design. Less and More shows us the possibilities that design opens for both the manufacturer and the consumer as a means of making our lives better through attractive, functional solutions that also save resources.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Less and More is edited by Professor Klaus Klemp and Keiko Ueki-Polet. One of the world's leading experts in the field of product design, Klemp has been acquainted with Dieter Rams for many years and is an authority on his work. Ueki-Polet is one of Japan's most renowned design curators. She is well acquainted with design developments in both Asia and the Western world and works at the Suntory
Museum in Osaka.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 808 pages
  • Publisher: Die Gestalten Verlag; Bilingual edition (February 15, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 3899552776
  • ISBN-13: 978-3899552775
  • Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.2 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #586,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Less is more, more or less, April 30, 2011
This review is from: Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams (Paperback)
I thought this was fascinating and comprehensive overview of Braun and Dieter Rams contribution to the success of the company though I think it has a quite a serious editorial flaw.

The publishers have been quite clever in accommodating the huge amount of text and graphic material in a book of just over eight hundred pages. The text, German on left-hand pages and English on the right, has been printed on very thin paper (known as bible stock in the trade) which has a certain amount of show-through. The excellent product shots (314 pages) have been printed on a good matt art with another paper used for the remaining photo essays. Incidentally the color work in the book is printed with an impressive 300 screen, most art books run to 175 to 250.

Eleven of the nineteen chapters are text (on the thin paper) and explore in as much detail as you could want about German and middle European design in the first decades of the last century and how it influenced Rams, particularly the Bauhaus and Ulm design laboratories. A fascinating sixty-five page chapter: 'Dieter Rams, Braun, Vitsoe and the shrinking world' explores the reasons for the companies success and Rams contribution with brilliant product design. Another chapter: 'Graphic design: Braun and Vitsoe' delves, in part, into the typeface used on the products, always in lower-case and originally Akzidenz-Grotesk but after the sixties switching to Helvetica.

Between the essays and possibly the main strength of the book are the photo product pages, basically electrical products for the home. Each item gets a spread of lovely close-up photos butted together and then a spread with a head on shot on the left and each right-hand page having relevant profile photos. Here, unfortunately, I think the book falls down (and why I've given it four stars) because these photos are just too small and made more noticeable because the rest of each page is blank. Matt black was a design element for many of the audio products and to see them basically as small silhouettes with the detail of the fascia, side and backs near invisible seems a nonsense. To have all these product shots this small is just a book designer's whimsy and doesn't do the reader any favors. There are other photos essays of Braun products (including fourteen pages of ones that didn't make it) brochures, packaging, Dieter Rams home.

'Less and more' is an impressive book (apart from the small product photos) and could well become the standard work on the company for design students and those who appreciate good product design and want to know about a man and company that created such high standards. There is another book about the company that might interest you: BRAUN--Fifty Years of Design and Innovation basically product shots with a very comprehensive listing of these in the back pages.

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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A must for fans of Dieter Rams and Braun., October 16, 2010
By 
Don S. (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams (Paperback)
Beautifully printed soft-cover book with thin board slip case. I have several books on Rams and Braun, but this one is almost certainly the best. The main focus here is on Rams with examples of his work for Braun and other companies. Beyond beautifully photographed examples of Braun classics, the book also looks at sketches, prototypes of unrealized products, and even engineering models for some items. Highly interesting with well-written text in English and German.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Designed & Written, November 12, 2010
By 
Mark A. Peck (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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This review is from: Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams (Paperback)
I own many books on Rams and his work but this book is by far the best. Not only is the content of this book excellent, but the quality of materials and the craft of the product is stunning. It was without a doubt worth the $50 I paid.
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