Persuasion Archives - Page 5 of 18

Good Design Is Unobtrusive

Gutes Design ist unaufdringlich. Good design is unobtrusive. This is the fifth of the ten principles of good design by Dieter Rams, who led the design team at Braun for more than 30 years.

The explanation reads: Produkte, die einen Zweck erfüllen, sind wie Werkzeuge. Products that serve a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be neutral and restrained, um Raum für die Selbstdarstellung des Nutzers zu lassen, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

Stand-Ins for the Band

In May 1978 the German band Kraftwerk released the album Die Mensch-Maschine, The Man-Machine. The band members had life-size mannequins of themselves made by Obermaier, a mannequin maker in Munich. Each one cost 4,000 marks.

The dummies were on show at the album’s launch in Paris, at a nightclub on the 56th floor of the Montparnasse Tower. In later concerts, robots made to look like the musicians at times replaced them on stage.

No Sales Calls Without a Yes

In Germany, a company may call a consumer for advertising only if the consumer has agreed in advance. The rule is Section 7 of the Act Against Unfair Competition. The Federal Network Agency explains it on its website. Jeder, der Sie zu Werbezwecken anrufen möchte, muss zuvor Ihre ausdrückliche Einwilligung einholen. Anyone who wants to call you for advertising must first obtain your express consent. The company must record the consent at once and in detail, and it must show the record to the agency on request. Fines can reach 300,000 euros. A consumer does not have to say no to such a call. Without an earlier yes, the call is already unlawful.

One Notices the Intention

In the second act of Goethe’s play Torquato Tasso, the poet Tasso speaks to the princess about her friend Leonore Sanvitale. Leonore can seem very charming, he says, but he could seldom be fully open with her. Und wenn sie auch / Die Absicht hat, den Freunden wohl zu tun, / So fühlt man Absicht, und man ist verstimmt. And even when she means to do her friends good, one feels the intention, and one is put out. The line became a common German saying in a shorter form. Man merkt die Absicht und ist verstimmt. One notices the intention and is annoyed. Germans use it when friendliness seems to serve a purpose.

Judged by Number, Not by Name

In a German public architecture competition run under the federal Guideline for Planning Competitions of 2013, the jury does not know whose design it is judging. Under the guideline, each participant marks every part of the entry only with a Kennzahl, a code number. The entries stay anonymous until the jury has decided. The jury assesses the shortlisted designs in writing, and the decision is recorded in minutes. Afterwards all entries are exhibited in public with the authors’ names, together with the minutes.

Words for the Wider View

die Gesamtschau
the overall view, taking everything together

im Zusammenhang sehen
to see something in its context

das große Ganze
the big picture

die Querschnittsaufgabe
a cross-sectional task, one that concerns several departments

einen Rattenschwanz nach sich ziehen
to drag a rat’s tail behind it, to set off a long chain of consequences

The Vocabulary of Taking People Along

die Leute mitnehmen
To take people along. A decision is explained until people understand it and support it.

jemanden da abholen, wo er steht
To pick someone up where he stands. To start from what the other person knows and thinks.

an einem Strang ziehen
To pull on the same rope.

jemandem Rückendeckung geben
To cover someone’s back. To support him openly.

Akzeptanz schaffen
To create acceptance.

Einvernehmen herstellen
To establish agreement.

Reading a Law in Its Context

In 1840 the jurist Friedrich Carl von Savigny named four elements of interpreting a law: “ein grammatisches, logisches, historisches und systematisches”, grammatical, logical, historical and systematic. German law students still learn them.

The systematic element reads a provision in the light of where it stands in the whole legal system. A Göttingen teaching script gives an example. A rule of the Trade Regulation Act stands in the title on established businesses. By general view, it therefore does not apply to traveling traders.

Peace, Justice and Creation as One Question

From 1988 to 1989 the churches in East Germany held an Ecumenical Assembly on three themes at once: justice, peace and the integrity of creation. The plenary met in Magdeburg from 8 to 11 October 1988. On 30 April 1989 the results were handed to the 19 churches that had commissioned the assembly.

The three themes belong together in the churches’ thinking. In 2011 a synod paper of the Protestant Church in Central Germany spoke of “der gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit”, the mutual dependence, between justice, peace and the care of creation.

The Catholic Academy in Berlin calls the assembly a forerunner and signpost of the Peaceful Revolution of autumn 1989.

War as a Continuation of Policy

Der Krieg ist eine blosse Fortsetzung der Politik mit andern Mitteln. War is merely a continuation of policy by other means. Carl von Clausewitz wrote this in Vom Kriege, On War, published in 1832.

Clausewitz did not treat war as a separate technical field. He wrote that war is not only a political act but a real political instrument, “eine Fortsetzung des politischen Verkehrs, ein Durchführen desselben mit andern Mitteln”, a continuation of political dealings, carried out by other means.