Industrial Design and Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams defined his 10 principles of good design as follows:

Good design is:

- innovative

- makes a product useful

- is aesthetic

- makes a product understandable

- is unobtrusive

- is honest

- is long lasting

- is thorough down to the last detail

- is environmentally friendly

- is as little design as possible

While some of you may not have heard a designer by the name of Dieter Rams, it is likely that you know of his design work and a bit about companies influenced by his aesthetics and principles.  Rams was the principle industrial designer responsible for the concern with function and simple aesthetic at the German company Braun. He worked at Braun from 1955 until his retirement in1998. During that time, Rams was largely responsible for creating Braun as an image through his design. Comparable concerns for function and simplified aesthetics can be found in many of Apple's designs today.  Below are examples of Rams' design work for Braun -- see what they reminds you of....

This is a link to a site detailing modeling for film - specifically for the film 'The Aviator'. While digital 3D modeling is becoming an industry standard, traditional modeling is used extensively in film applications to accomplish many shots.

Here is a link to a blog discussing modeling for film, which includes tips on construction, use of modular construction to enable ease of transportation, a recipe for sugar glass (aka 'breakaway glass') as well as filming and photographing tips - worth a look.

Carsten Holler creates some great, interactive spaces well-worth checking out - here are some images from a 2006 exhibition in Turbine Hall in London that relate to the Playground project. I also recommend digging through his website and looking at some of his other past projects for reference.

He also has a review of a recent project in January's Art In America that would be worth looking at.

Katamari Damacy game designer Keita Takahashi announced as designer for children's playground in Nottingham City
A link to his blog charting progress on development of the site can be found here

Children's Playground, Takino Hillside Park

Designer:  Fumiaki Takano

While the Miniatur Wunderland is a simply a model train display, there is nothing simple about it - a great reference for anyone interested in narratives, modeling, kinetics, installation, exhibition display and computer controlled interfaces.

This is a project I came across recently that piqued my interest that I thought I would share.
With regard to mixing or multiplying purposes, consider how the process of play also informs in this project - what are some other ways information can be built into the design and use of the the playground? For more information, click on the link here - Weaving Forest

The design group that created this project is a Shanghai-based group by the name of SuperNature and a link to their site can be found here.