September 24th, 2006
The influence of Dieter Rams
Signal vs. Noise discovers that the concept for the iMac G5 / iMac Core Duo may have come from a speaker designed by Dieter Rams in 1960.
While the visual similarity of the two products is surely coincidental, quotes from Rams reveal a parity with the design ethos of Jonathan Ive:
“I believe designers should eliminate the unnecessary. That means eliminating everything that is modish because this kind of thing is only short-livedâ€
Links:
Dieter Rams: “Less, but better†at Signal vs. Noise
October 13th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
What about these design “coincidences”? The difference with the speaker is that these items serve the same purpose: taking your music with you to listen to it anywhere.
iPod -vs- Regency
http://www.design-emotion.com/2005/02/23/ipod-vs-regency-tr1-get-emotional-about-the-design-coincidences/
Nothing wrong with being inspired by the old masters.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
And if you look - mainly the wheel - at the white pocket radio [Model T3] that Dieter designed back in 1958, you can see the same odd “coincidence” regarding the iPod.
Here is the link: http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7145&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1
January 25th, 2008 at 4:38 am
hey people to be frank, when u have a design principle that is to have as little design as possible, meaning no unneccessary styling, differentiation etc. U will most prob end up with primitives shapes. tt is why naoto’s, ive, jacob jensen’s stuff all looks similar to Rams. But do keep in mind they are trying to create the right kind of design, NOT the different (fad) look. Anyway do check out apple’s first few generation of mouse. They look exactly like ipod. I wonder which came first, the mouse or Ram’s radio.