Less, but better: ‘Weniger, aber besser”

What follows is a thought experiment in applying the ten principles of good functional design, as structured by renowned designer Dieter Rams, to the design and function of theology. You can look this up or enjoy digesting Rams reflections on over 40 years of design work in his bilingual book “Weniger, aber besser”, Less, but better. (Also handy for brushing up those rusty school German language skills!)

Maybe you do not think of theology, religious teaching or sermons as being designed or having a function and utility. I would urge you to think again; to reflect that any and every piece of theology or sermonising has been selected, shaped, packaged and put together to fulfil a purpose and have an impact on those for whom it is delivered. These processes, undertaken by personal choice of the communicator or through the purposeful selection of an institution -often unexamined or unacknowledged - are present in preparation of any creative “package” or system of thought. 

These processes are an analogue to the disciplines that go toward designing a chair, a desk lamp, a food mixer or mobile phone. These parallels are teased out in what follows - a well meant provocation, tongue in cheek - for better sermons and theology that in our information heavy times better meet the needs of those in receipt of them.

A design philosophy that has shaped much of our modern domestic environment

The German design school that evolved after the turmoil of the Nazi era rekindled an approach to design principles that has shaped much of our modern aesthetic. This movement for simple, good design growing out of a humane approach to art and craft first expressed in the Bauhaus and related movements had been suppressed during times of brutality and destruction. The spirit of the creative epoch of those earlier hopeful times was revived post-war by a new generation determined to build a better world. At the heart of this movement was a group of young architects and designers that included Dieter Rams. Rams became an exemplar of this movement of hope. He has distilled the portfolio of a lifetime’s iconic design work into the simple approach of “less but better”.  By example, the innovative and functional styles of “Braun”, where Rams worked for 40 years still influences many of the gadgets and tools we use every day e.g the design of “Apple” computer and phone products.

This movement of designers saw themselves as heirs of the “Bauhaus” family of design that took root during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s and early 30s. Their new wave of clean lines, ergonomic consideration and eye-catching design was a reaction to the nostalgic styling of many new household items in the pre and immediate post WW2 years. During this time new household items were often clothed in backward looking faux or aspirational ostentation. In this time of rebuilding after turbulent years of tyranny and war a new post-war honesty and utility was sought. This International movement gained expression in internal and external architecture - in the UK by example, the new Coventry Cathedral and in design of everyday products, such as Terence Conran’s “Habitat” range. The IKEA philosophy is also a modern heir to this spirit of simple, classless, practical yet desirable design  

The intuitive nature of this style of design means that we can usually just get something “out of the box” and use it straight away, without reference to technical manuals or instruction. It is an approach, also taken up by many software “app” designers, that makes objects and tools as much a natural extension and expression of the self as a well chosen stick or stone to our early ancestors.  

Dieter Rams worked as design engineer for Braun, establishing and leading a ground breaking school of design for 40 years until his retirement in the 1990s He has also had a long collaborative relationship with the interior design and furniture company Vitsoe who have produced products of iconic style and functional design since the 1960s.

Guiding this design revolution that has shaped much of our lived in environment are a set of simple principles. Dieter Rams as an exemplar of this movement summed up the underpinning principles for good design in a short 10 point process/check list/gauge, namely:

1. Good design is innovative: in respect to clear improvements in the product’s function
2. Good design makes a product useful: by optimising the utility of the product
3. Good design is aesthetic: it makes the product fascinating
4. Good design makes a product understandable: ideally self explanatory in itself
5. Good design is unobtrusive: that products keep to the background and make space for the user
6. Good design is honest: it does not make the product more than it is.
7. Good design is durable: there is n nothing “trendy” about it that will be out of date tomorrow
8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail: respecting the product and its users
9. Good design is environmentally-friendly: contributing to protecting and sustaining the environment
10. Good design is as little design as possible: back to purity and simplicity.

So, what have these ideas got to do with theology… well the next post will start to unpack some thoughts that one colleague with a mission to preach and write inspiring devotional material kindly described as ‘the most helpful thing I have come across since theological college”.