Short Case

Design principles at Braun AG and the new Braun Multimix

Braun, the leading European manufacturer of small appliances, is renowned for the innovative and functional designs of its products (over 60 per cent of the companys sales are of products which were launched within the last five years). The company has 150 of its products in the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and has 40 products on exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art. But Brauns design principles go beyond the aesthetic. Its designers follow their Ten principles of good design. We will describe the design of the Braun Multimix, the design brief of which was to combine three specialist kitchen appliances (blender, food processor, kitchen machine) in such a way that the new single product performs at least as well in each of the applications as the best equivalent specialized product.

Brauns 10 industrial design principles applied to the Multimix

1 Usefulness. The functionality of a product is the central reason for its existence. It was decided to align the motor, gearing and attachments in a single vertical direction (competitive products have horizontal motor and vertical attachments, requiring a complex gearbox). The form of the product then follows its function.

2 Quality. Braun designers emphasize four aspects of quality. First, its versatility provides a full range of tasks required in cooking: mixing, blending, kneading and chopping. Second, the high mechanical efficiency of the appliance and the seven speed settings provide high performance across the range of tasks. Third, many unique safety features have been included to prevent contact with moving parts and to prevent accidents. Fourth, the application of advanced process technology has enabled many integrated elements to be incorporated in a single moulding. A complex production moulding tool was developed to produce two housings in one injection moulding step.

3 Ease of use. Great emphasis was placed on human engineering to ensure that the Multimix is convenient, comfortable to use and easy to clean.

4 Simplicity. Braun engineers believe in achieving maximum results with minimum means: what is relevant is stressed, what is superfluous is omitted.

5 Clarity. Particular emphasis is placed on eliminating the need for complex instructions: the Multimix controls speak for themselves. For example, insertion of the attachments automatically sets the appropriate speed range of the drive.

6 Order. All details of a product should have a logical, meaningful place with nothing arbitrary or coincidental.

7 Naturalness. Braun designers strive to avoid any forced, contrived, or artificial decorative elements. Braun refers to a principle of understatement and modesty.

8 Aesthetics. Although aesthetic quality is not a primary objective of the Braun designers during the development process, it is achieved through attention to detail and the quest for order and naturalness.

9 Innovation. Braun is committed to achieving long-lasting appeal in its designs, so innovations are carefully developed and brought together for new appliances such as the Multimix.

1. Truthfulness. A principle followed by Braun is that only honest design can be good design, so any attempt to play on peoples emotions and weaknesses is avoided.

Questions

1. Braun is proud of its success in aesthetic design. What benefit do you think this gives the company with the domestic appliance buying public?
2. Brauns ten industrial design principles are applied above to a domestic appliance. How do you think they might change if they were applied to an industrial product such as a machine tool?
3. Pick a service with which you are familiar in an educational operation (such as your university, school or college) and evaluate it against Brauns ten principles. Which of these ten principles do you think were the most useful in making your evaluation?