Sublime

The first school is represented by “classic designers,” such as my friends Dieter Rams and Kenji Ekuan, the late Ettore Sottsass, Jr., Mario Bellini, and Jonathan Ives. These designers can run their own studios or be corporate stars. Ten or fifteen years ago, I would have included myself in this group. This school’s approach to design is both logic

the entire user experience—thoughtful, elegant, long-lived, and deeply useful.

building a product.

laser focus on a few key differentiating elements

Dieter Rams was the lead designer at Braun for many years. He is driven by the idea that almost everything is noise. He believes very few things are essential. His job is to filter through that noise until he gets to the essence. For example, as a young twenty-four-year-old at the company he was asked to collaborate on a record player. The norm at