Dieter Rams – As Little Design as Possible

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Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible is a monograph on German industrial designer Dieter Rams, written by Sophie Lovell with a foreword by Jonathan Ive. First published by Phaidon in 2011 and reissued in 2024, the book follows Rams’ life, work and approach to industrial design. From 1961 to 1995, Rams served as head of design at Braun, where he developed products that established a system based on function, reduction and legibility.

The volume documents Rams’ work for Braun and Vitsœ through sketches, prototypes, finished objects and archival material. Radios, record players, clocks, shelving systems and domestic appliances appear alongside photographs of the Braun archive and Rams’ house in Kronberg. The book also examines his only completed work of architecture and the relationship between objects, interiors and daily use.

Rams’ ten principles for good design run through the publication, including his position that design should be useful, understandable, durable, environmentally responsible and involve as little design as possible. The book places these principles within his work and their influence on later generations of industrial designers.

/ published 2024, originally published 2011
/ 400 pages
/ 320 colored and black-and-white illustrations
/ hardback
/ 20.5 × 27 cm
/ english

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