Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Separated At Birth?

This is interesting. Take a look at Dieter Rams designs for Braun back in the 1960's.

Braun's Atelier TV vs. Apple's iMac 24, Braun's T1000 radio vs. Apple's PowerMac G5/Mac Pro, Braun's T3 pocket radio vs. Apple's iPod, Braun's L60 sound system vs. Apple's iPod Hi-Fi, Braun's LE1 speaker vs. Apple's iMac.


From Wikipedia:

Dieter Rams (born May 20, 1932 in Wiesbaden) is a German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun. He is regarded as one of the most influential industrial designers in the 20th century.

After World War II, Rams studied Architecture at the Ulmer Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden as well as learning carpenter. After working for the Architect Otto Apel between 1953 and 1955 he joined the electronic devices manufacturer Braun where he became chief of design in 1961, a position he kept until 1995.

Rams once explained his design approach in the phrase "Weniger, aber besser" which freely translates as "Less, but better." Rams and his staff designed many memorable products for Braun including the famous SK-4 record player and the high-quality 'D'-series (D45, D46) of 35mm film slide projectors. He is also known for designing the 606 Universal Shelving System by Vitsœ in 1960.

Check out Dieter's first commandment!


Many of his designs — wonderfully sleek coffee makers, calculators, radios, audio/visual equipment, consumer appliances and office products — have found a permanent home at many museums over the world, including MoMA in New York. For nearly 30 years Dieter Rams served as head of design for Braun A.G. until his retirement in 1998. He continues to be a legend in design circles + most recently designed a cover for Wallpaper magazine.

Rams' designs have been very influential on Jonathan Ive of Apple, Inc., designer of such products as the iMac and the iPod.

Ya Think? Go Dieter! Thanks for the design tips.

That's Right,

HMK

2008 Macworld Stevenote


Flying Macbook Pros with dilithium crystal-powered nano warp drives, leaked speeches, intentionally cryptic banners, it can all mean only one thing: the 2008 Macworld Stevenote is less than 24-hours away.

Check out Wired's online Gadget Lab, iLounge or Engadget now and tune in for second-by-second coverage.

Start time is 9 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday. Don't be late!

07:00AM - Hawaii
09:00AM - Pacific
10:00AM - Mountain
11:00AM - Texas
12:00PM - Eastern
05:00PM - GMT / London
06:00PM - Paris
08:00PM - Moscow
02:00AM - Tokyo (January 16th)

That's Right,

HMK