Is Apple the Braun of the 60’s?

Gizmodo makes an interesting comparison between the design of Apple products today versus Braun’s innovative product design in the 1960’s. Dieter Rams, Braun’s lead designer back then, was the revolutionary that sculpted the look and feel of Braun’s line. And it’s that which seems to have inspired Apple’s design guru, Jonathan Ive:

This passion for “simplicity” and “honest design” that is always declared by Ive whenever he’s interviewed or appears in a promo video, is at the core of Dieter Rams’ 10 principles for good design:

• Good design is innovative.
• Good design makes a product useful.
• Good design is aesthetic.
• Good design helps us to understand a product.
• Good design is unobtrusive.
• Good design is honest.
• Good design is durable.
• Good design is consequent to the last detail.
• Good design is concerned with the environment.
• Good design is as little design as possible.

Ive’s inspiration on Rams’ design principles goes beyond the philosophy and gets straight into a direct homage to real products created decades ago. Amazing pieces of industrial design that still today remain fresh, true classics that have survived the test of time.

The similarities between products from Braun and Apple are sometimes uncanny, others more subtle, but there’s always a common root that provides the new Apple objects not only with a beautiful simplicity but also with a close familiarity.

Gizmodo - The Future of Apple is 1960s Braun