And here's Apple Senior VP Jonathan Ive on how he was 'enchanted' by Dieter Rams as a boy
Dieter Rams's Braun product range, circa（approximately） 1970, every design a stroke of genius - from the iPad version of As Little Design as Possible
We've spent too much of today swiping through the beautiful new iPad version of our Dieter Rams book, As Little Design as Possible Two things have really caught our eye. The visuals: The way the pictures absolutely ping from the page - all of them beautifully shot and fantastically rendered in this new iBooks edition for iPad. And, the words - specifically Jonathan Ive's wonderfully judged foreword and appreciation of the work of Rams, a designer he has often paid homage to when describing his own superlative work.
我們今天用了大部分的時(shí)間來瀏覽 iPad 版本的 Dieter Rams 的作品「微設(shè)計(jì)存崖，盡您所能」静暂。 畫冊(cè)中精美拍攝或者渲染的圖片聊倔，以及所搭配的文字晦毙，都讓我們戀戀不舍。尤其是 ive 為此書作的序言耙蔑，其中 ive 提到见妒，當(dāng)展示他自己的作品時(shí)，他稱之為在向 Rams 的作品致敬甸陌。
There's a great bit in Ive's intro where he describes the concave button on one particular Rams music player, "necessary to stop your finger from slipping," he says, "as it made the long travel necessary for earlier mechanical switches." It couldn't help but remind us of Ive's own, perfectly proportioned, concave button on the iPad on which we were reading Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible.
Ive 在序言中花了大量的篇幅描述了 Rams 的一個(gè)特別的音樂播放器的內(nèi)凹形狀的旋鈕须揣。 他說道：該旋鈕讓你的手指及時(shí)停止滑動(dòng)，有點(diǎn)像早期的機(jī)械開關(guān)钱豁。 這個(gè)讓我們不禁聯(lián)想到我們正在使用的 iPad 上的那個(gè) home 按鍵耻卡，而這個(gè)正是 Ive’s 的杰作。
A screen shot from As Little Design as Possible
Of course we would say this but we really can't recommend this new version strongly enough - it really does seem like Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible was made to be enjoyed this way. So to celebrate its publication we thought it was approriate to bring you Jonathan Ive's intro. Here it is in its entirety.
我們很想說牲尺，非常推薦 iPad 版本的 as little design as possible 卵酪，但是實(shí)際上看起來就應(yīng)該這樣被閱讀。因此谤碳，為了慶祝此書的出版凛澎，我們認(rèn)為分享 Ive’s 的序言是合適的估蹄，以下是全文臭蚁。
"When I was a young boy growing up in London, my parents bought a wonderful juicer. It was a Braun MPZ 2 Citromatic. I knew nothing about Dieter Rams or his ten principles of good design. But to a little boy uninterested in juicing, I remember the Citromatic he and his team designed for Braun with shocking clarity. It was white. It felt cold and heavy. The surfaces were without apology, bold, pure, perfectly-proportioned, coherent and effortless. There was an honest connection between its blemish-free surfaces and the materials from which they were made. It was clearly made from the best materials, not the cheapest. No part appeared to be either hidden or celebrated, just perfectly considered and completely appropriate in the hierarchy of the product’s details and features.
當(dāng)我是一個(gè)在倫敦長(zhǎng)大的小孩時(shí)最铁，我的父母購買了一臺(tái)榨汁機(jī)，型號(hào)是 Braun 的 MPE 2 Citromatic. 我當(dāng)時(shí)對(duì) Rams 和關(guān)于好設(shè)計(jì)的10 條準(zhǔn)則一無所知冷尉，但是對(duì)于一個(gè)對(duì)榨汁機(jī)沒有什么興趣的小孩來說系枪，我記住了這臺(tái)榨汁機(jī)雀哨。它是白色的，看起來有點(diǎn)冰冷私爷，有一點(diǎn)重雾棺，表面優(yōu)雅衬浑，純凈工秩，比例完美，連續(xù)且毫不費(fèi)力助币，完全無瑕疵的表面和材料之間存在著某種聯(lián)系浪听。 一眼望去就可以知道使用的是最好的材料迹栓，不是最便宜的倍谜，沒有一處是需要被隱藏或者需要被強(qiáng)調(diào)。在產(chǎn)品的細(xì)節(jié)和特征樹中答毫，一切都是深思熟慮季春，且合適的载弄。
A screen shot from As Little Design as Possible
At a glance, you knew exactly what it was and exactly how to use it. It was the essence of juicing made material: a static object that perfectly described the process by which it worked. It felt complete and it felt right. While my memories are, of course, in the past tense, the product remains all these things. I was completely enchanted with it then, and I now find, with surprise, that this object resonated so deeply with me that nearly forty years on I remember my sense of it with startling clarity.
只需要看一眼宇攻，就可以準(zhǔn)確的知道這是什么，如何使用逞刷。一個(gè)靜態(tài)的物體完美的展現(xiàn)了工作時(shí)的狀態(tài)，完成了仑最，可以了警医，這就是榨汁機(jī)的本質(zhì)。 在我的記憶中侈玄，在過去的時(shí)間里深啤，這個(gè)代表了很多溯街。 當(dāng)時(shí)我是完全為之著迷，現(xiàn)在我驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)挥等，在過去的 40 年內(nèi)堤尾，一旦提到該物品郭宝，我就會(huì)想起初次見面的場(chǎng)景。
While studying design in the 1980s I read about Dieter Rams and his work with his team at Braun. But the reading was never as powerful as seeing and using his products. Prolific and consistent, Rams is defined by what he does rather than what he says. And what Dieter Rams and his team at Braun did was to produce hundreds of wonderfully conceived and designed objects: products that were beautifully made in high volumes and that were broadly accessible. He defined how it was supposed to be: how industry could responsibly bring useful, well-considered products to many.
當(dāng)我 80 年代學(xué)習(xí)設(shè)計(jì)的時(shí)候榄檬，我閱讀了大量關(guān)于 Rams 以及他和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)作品的文章衔统。 但是文章永遠(yuǎn)沒有欣賞或者使用他的作品帶給用戶的震撼多锦爵。高產(chǎn)和統(tǒng)一，是 Rams 在人們心目中的印象沪袭，這個(gè)印象來源于他的作品而不是他所說的樟氢。 他和他在博朗的團(tuán)隊(duì)生產(chǎn)了數(shù)百款精心構(gòu)思和設(shè)計(jì)的物品，這些作品制作精良焚碌，并且被廣泛接受十电。 他定義了事物是什么就應(yīng)該需要呈現(xiàn)是什么的狀態(tài)：工業(yè)有責(zé)任將有用的叹螟，考慮周全的產(chǎn)品帶給用戶罢绽。
Fritz Eichler and Dieter Rams, circa 1968
In so many ways Dieter Rams’s work is beyond improvement. Although new technologies have since offered new opportunities, his designs are not undermined by the limits of the technologies of their time. The concave button top, necessary to stop your finger from slipping as it made the long travel necessary for earlier mechanical switches, does not point to obsolete mechanisms. Instead, it reminds us how immediately and intuitively form alone can describe what an object does and suggest how we should use it. So profoundly good is his design of music players, cameras and kitchen tools that it somehow transcends their technical capability. Some of these products are now over fifty years old.Rams’s ability to bring form to a product so that it clearly, concisely and immediately communicates its meaning is remarkable. The completeness of the relationship between shape and construction, material and process, defines his work and remains a conspicuously rare quality. And although there is no inherent virtue in consistency, Rams’s application and resolve to pursue his vision over time also led to a remarkable cohesiveness of design throughout his career.
Rams 的工作遠(yuǎn)超過改良良价，盡管新的科技提供了新的機(jī)遇明垢，但是他的設(shè)計(jì)并沒有被當(dāng)時(shí)技術(shù)的限制而被左右痊银。 當(dāng)它旋轉(zhuǎn)了一定的角度后，這個(gè)內(nèi)凹面的旋鈕及時(shí)的提醒你停止轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)，有點(diǎn)類似早期的機(jī)械開關(guān)臭猜，但是并不是過時(shí)的機(jī)械操作蔑歌。 相反雳刺，這個(gè)提醒了我們：獨(dú)立的直覺的形式可以描述一個(gè)物體是什么掖桦，暗示這個(gè)物體如何工作。 因此 趁舀，他的音樂播放器，照相機(jī)，廚房工具的設(shè)計(jì)超越了當(dāng)時(shí)技術(shù)的限制，其中一些產(chǎn)品已經(jīng)超過 50 年了碰纬。 Rams 將形式賦予給一個(gè)產(chǎn)品并且清楚悦析，簡(jiǎn)潔的傳達(dá)其內(nèi)在意義的能力是卓越的。外形和功能，材料和工藝的完成度，定義了他的作品并且達(dá)到了一個(gè)罕見的高品質(zhì)薄翅。 盡管在一致性方面沒有一個(gè)明確的準(zhǔn)則探颈，在他的整個(gè)職業(yè)生涯纱兑，Rams 對(duì)于遠(yuǎn)見的不斷追求也促成了一個(gè)顯著的設(shè)計(jì)凝聚力。
A screen shot of the interactive timeline from As Little Design as Possible - click on a product and up comes its picture
His products seem inevitable, challenging you to question whether there could possibly be a rational alternative. It is this clarity and purity that leads to the sense of inevitability and effortlessness that characterizes his work. The CSV 12 amplifier rotary switch, for example, is perfect. It could not be better, simpler, clearer, or more beautiful. It brings order and explanation to what is a far more complex problem than the user could possibly conceive. Simplicity, of course, is not the absence of complexity. Just removing clutter would result in uncomplicated but meaningless products. Rams’s genius lies in understanding and giving form to the very essence of an object’s being - almost describing its reason for existence, as so perfectly illustrated by the Citromatic juicer of my childhood.
Ironically, while he relegated these products to the status of tools, he elevated them by imbuing them with clarity, simplicity and consequent beauty. In doing so he defined the new relationship between the object and the user. He and his team created objects that were neither vehicles of self-expression nor purely a means to make money. He addressed the issue of our relationship with our manu- factured environment, articulating important rules of engagement between user and product.
他的產(chǎn)品看起來都是必然的优妙，促使你去思考是否還有沒有改善的可能朴恳。 追求必然和無意識(shí)的結(jié)果帶來的清晰和純粹定義了他的工作允蚣。 例如， THE CSV12 放大器的旋轉(zhuǎn)開關(guān)森渐，就是完美的同衣。 它不可能更好壶运，更簡(jiǎn)潔，更清楚或者更美埠况。 由此它帶來的秩序和解釋也是一個(gè)非常復(fù)雜的問題棵癣，遠(yuǎn)超用戶的想象狈谊。 簡(jiǎn)潔并不是復(fù)雜的缺席，僅僅去除繁復(fù)將會(huì)產(chǎn)生不復(fù)雜但是無意義的產(chǎn)品渊抄。 Rams 的偉大在于理解并賦予一定的形式以便呈現(xiàn)物體的本質(zhì)丧裁，類似于描述存在的原因煎娇，就像那臺(tái)童年時(shí)代的榨汁機(jī)。
另一方面催享，當(dāng)他講這些產(chǎn)品回歸到工具的屬性時(shí)哟绊，同時(shí)使用純凈，簡(jiǎn)潔攀涵，一致性的美來描述他們以故。 他以這樣的方式重新定義了物品和用戶之間的聯(lián)系。 他和他的伙伴創(chuàng)造產(chǎn)品的目的既不是為了自我展現(xiàn)炉媒，也不是純粹地為了賺錢吊骤。他強(qiáng)調(diào)了我們與生產(chǎn)環(huán)境之間的關(guān)系静尼，說出了用戶和產(chǎn)品之間互相參與的重要規(guī)則。
A mock up of the D55 Braun pavilion at Ulm, 1955
For a designer to produce a couple of objects this significant and influential in their lifetime could define a movement. To produce more than 500 borders on the absurd. This speaks to perhaps a less obvious but critically important attribute of Rams – his ability to collaborate. The fact we know Rams primarily by his beautifully engineered and mass-manufactured products rather than his credo of good design, speaks volumes about his extraordinary collaborations within Braun. In defining individual products he also defined Braun. His was not an academic experiment in modernism.
對(duì)于一個(gè)職業(yè)生涯創(chuàng)造了幾十件有意義的和流暢的產(chǎn)品的設(shè)計(jì)師來說或渤，可以定義為一個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)薪鹦。 對(duì)于一個(gè)生產(chǎn)了超過 500 件產(chǎn)品的用戶來說有點(diǎn)荒謬。 這樣說有一點(diǎn)低顧客 Rams 的重要貢獻(xiàn)奔害，他的整合能力地熄。 我們對(duì)于他的了解主要來自于他的設(shè)計(jì)精美和大量工業(yè)化生產(chǎn)的作品端考，而不是他的設(shè)計(jì)理念。 在定義獨(dú)立產(chǎn)品的同時(shí)他也定義了 Braun扶供，他不是現(xiàn)代主義上的一個(gè)理論派裂明。
He lived every day with the commercial realities and consequences of what he and his team designed. Equally, he lived with the organizational and structural consequences of the way he and his team worked. When you think of Braun, you immediately think of the products, not some abstract mission statement or charter. Our perception of these products is our perception of the brand. In a profession with more than its fair share of rhetoric, Dieter Rams succeeded in making his philosophy tangible by giving form and, ultimately, the relevance of mass production to his ideas. He remains utterly alone in producing a body of work so consistently beautiful, so right and so accessible." - Jonathan Ive.
他生活在一個(gè)由他和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)設(shè)計(jì)的產(chǎn)品包圍的商業(yè)社會(huì)，同樣的扳碍，他也生活在一個(gè)由他和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)創(chuàng)立的生活方式的社會(huì)左腔。 當(dāng)您想起博朗的時(shí)候，會(huì)立刻想起具體的產(chǎn)品振亮，而不是一些抽象的概念描述或者其他字符鞭莽。我們對(duì)于產(chǎn)品的認(rèn)識(shí)就是我們對(duì)于博朗的認(rèn)識(shí)澎怒。 在一個(gè)專業(yè)的社會(huì)內(nèi)， Rams 成功的將他的設(shè)計(jì)理念同產(chǎn)品的外觀和批量生產(chǎn)相結(jié)合星瘾。 他確保了產(chǎn)品外觀工作的完全的獨(dú)立性惧辈，同時(shí)確保產(chǎn)品的一致性盒齿，如何的合理和易接受。
