Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
A couple of weeks ago I was having a drink with a friend who used to work for Braun, the German consumer products company (now owned by Gillette). We started talking bout Dieter Rams, the legendary German industrial designer who served as Braun’s head of design for over 30 years. Rams described his design approach as “Weniger, aber besser” which translates into “Less, but better.” (One can only speculate how many times that line was used by Rams’ protégés at the local Kronberg singles bar). Rams expanded on his philosophy with these The Ten Principles Of Good Design.
Apparently Rams had said, “Apple is one of the few companies designing products according to my principles.” What’s of more interest is the seldom-quoted, second half of that statement where Rams declared, “Which is not surprising because they’re using MY designs. BOO-YEAH!!!” Okay. I made that last part up. He probably never delivered that sassy line with a thick German accent while holding up two pixelated fingers at a press conference (which was the way that imaginary moment went down in my mind.) But he could very well have been thinking it at the time. One only has to look at the uncanny design similarities over the years to see Apple’s “homage” paid to Rams.
Is it ethical for marketers to copy designs from other companies? Should it be frowned upon? Maybe it’s not a bad thing. I came up with this expression a while back: “A good artist copies. A great artist steals.”
Okay. I actually stole that quote from a Steve Jobs interview.
Who, in turn, stole it from Picasso.
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