Plurking or Twitter : Nutella on Toast for Breakfast!

Jonathan Ive, Design Genius or Something Else?

Industrial Design
Posted by DT
Jan 19, 2008
(7 comments)

A warm welcome to you dear reader! If you have not already, why not subscribe to my RSS feed, or get my latest thoughts on Industrial Design in your Email Inbox for free?

Thanks for visiting and please keep in touch? ~ D.T.

rams-ive.jpg
Image Source: Gizmodo

According to Gizmodo there is an uncanny resemblance between the great work of Dieter Rams to the work of Jonathan Ive head of Industrial Design at Apple.

When you look at the Braun products by Dieter Rams—many of them at New York’s MoMA—and compare them to Ive’s work at Apple, you can clearly see the similarities in their philosophies way beyond the sparse use of color, the selection of materials and how the products are shaped around the function with no artificial design, keeping the design “honest.”

Jonathan Ive’s dedication to “honesty” and “simplicity” in design pays great homages to Dieter Rams’ 10 Commandants in Design, and is something that Japanese design great, Naoto Fukasawa, indicated was his major design influence as well. Rams’ 10 Commandants was also recently printed in Wallpaper Magazine’s September 2007 issue, and was something that I wanted to write about but totally forgot! Here they are, in brief as extracted from Wallpaper Magazine:

Dieter Rams 10 Design Commandments
Good Design:
1. is innovative
2. makes a product useful
3. Is aesthetic
4. Helps a product be understood
5. Is unobtrusive
6. Is honest
7. Is durable
8. Is consistent to the last detail
9. Is concerned with environment
10. Is as little design as possible

Anyways check out the complete comparison at the Gizmodo site, some of which are so similar that saying it “was inspired by” is actually pushing it.

Braun T3 pocket radio and Apple iPod
ipod-comp.jpg
Image Source: Gizmodo

What do you guys think?

Do you think Jonathan Ive is a design genius? Or was he suitably inspired? What about the similarities in design and detailing between Apple and Braun? Are Apple products a result of a close tribute to Dieter Ram’s design thinking? If so what about Naoto Fukasawa, who also follows closely to the teachings of Dieter Rams, but yet his work has a unique character of its own? Shall we discuss?




Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble | Float it | Permalink

Did you enjoy this post? If so, why not subscribe to Design Sojourn via
RSS Feedor delivered to you via Email with our 110% NO-SPAM Policy !



Related Posts
Jonathan Ive on Apple’s Industrial Design Strategy
Naoto Fukasawa: Without a Thought
Meta Design Links: 29 Sept 2007
What da Vinci Knew about Sex
How to be self critical with your Design Work?
Which Super Hero are you?
Meta Design Links: 08 Aug 2008

Comments

Trush
Jan 22, 08 – 12:57 am

I also enjoy the philosophy / design from Jacob Jensen. Check this quote about perfecting the design…

http://blog.convos.com/home/2008/1/21/creative-people-will-never-retire.html

DT
Jan 22, 08 – 10:40 am

Hi Trush,

Thanks very much for the link. Great information, I myself am a fan of Jacob Jenson as well.

KNSato
Jan 24, 08 – 3:27 pm

This article is pretty ironic because the author in Gizmodo himself “appropriated” ideas from other articles with no credit:

http://www.flankenlauf.com/journal/?bid=17

http://www.air-port.com/blog2/07/19/2007/iphone-calc-braun-et66

http://www.etre.com/blog/2008/01/1960s_braun_products_hold_the_secrets_to_apples_future/

DT
Jan 25, 08 – 7:21 am

Hey KN Sato,

That is terrible! I had assumed they were the ones that uncovered this story, I did not realised that they had “pinched” it from someone else.

Gizmondo has dropped a notched in my eyes.

Thanks for pointing this out, and please keep in touch.

Jan Moryson
Jan 29, 08 – 5:11 pm

Hi,
there was not really something to “uncover” It’s more a collection of images that where discussed several times in many blogs and boards.

But you are right, a credit would have been nice.

Greetings from Germany,
Jan (www.flankenlauf.com)

StudentDesigner
Feb 11, 08 – 7:16 am

If you look at some of Ive’s earlier designs (had a book out on apples early products the other day) they don’t seem to conform to the same design philosophies, They were much more flamboyant and less reserved in the detailing which leads one to think it was either an evolution or a blatant copy.. I would say the latter, from what I hear Johnny was always a complete product ‘nerd’ right from the very start of his studies so I think its no surprise that after all this time and all his sustained hard work he’s regarded a ‘design genius’. (lets not mention his big break at getting to Apple so early in his career!)

As for Fukasawa, perhaps he was influenced by Dieters 10 commandments but from reading his book I’d hazard a guess that his Japanese background - his Shinto learnings for example - are a much more apparent influence on his work.

I agree though, the iPod/Portable Radio Comparison is scary!

Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog » Naoto Fukasawa: Without a Thought
May 23, 08 – 12:01 am

[…] in the world. In it he shares his unique design philosophy, which I sense is a reinterpretation of Dieter Ram’s thinking (someone who Naoto looks up to) and a strong dose Japanese Zen […]


Categories

Recent Writings

[ Browse Monthly Archives ]


Popular Posts This Month

Sponsors