Braun at 50 08/12/2009
 
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Phonotransistor TP 1, 1959, Braun
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Sixtant SM 31, 1961, Braun
Braun, a company that’s practically synonymous with great product design, has a 50-year design legacy. Braun has designed many daily use household products from juicers and irons to shavers and hair dryers. Braun’s origin goes back to the 1920s, but it became the global icon it is only post 1950. More than the products themselves however, it is interesting to see the way Braun has documented their 50-year history online. (click on Braun Design World after clicking English) 

The timeline starts at 1955, and extends to 2004. One product is showcased in each year. You can toggle between the product description, and the context, which is very interesting, and rarely seen in such detail in design documentation of such a large company. For example, for the first 8 products, the context explains the events at the time, which led to, or influenced the creation of these products. It tells us about the internal climate at the company, the success they were having, the products accounting for most of their sales, and Braun’s expansion and take over of other companies. 

Products designed back in the sixties have appeal even today, such is the classic timelessness of these pieces. Look at the Phonotransistor TP 1, from 1959, or the Sixtant SM 31 from 1962. These pieces look modern, and easy to use even fifty years later, today. From 1965 to 1974, products have a different context, with the company expanding, collaborating and entering more overseas markets. The Aromaster KF 20 Coffeemaker, from 1972, though unique in design, was too costly to stay for long in the market. (in 1984 they brought out its successor, the highly successful Aromaster KF 40) From 1975 to 1984, Braun decided to move more into the personal appliances market, especially oral care, an idea the visionary Braun brothers had been hatching since the sixties. 

You can also view the products by designers, and the list of these is formidable. Some were very influential designers of the time, such as Dieter Rams, Hans Gugelot, a teacher at the Ulm school, among others. These designers were strongly from the ‘form follows function’ school of thought, and it shows in their work. It is said that Ram’s designs have had a great influence on Jonathan Ive of Apple. Listed below are Dieter Ram’s ten principles to good design, which hold true to anything, in any era. 

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

Braun celebrated fifty years of Design Innovation in 2005, and its products live its philosophy of innovation, quality and design. 

By Armeen Kapadia
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