Innovative. Useful. Aesthetic. Understandable. Honest. Unobtrusive. Long lasting. Consequent to the last detail. Environmentally friendly. As little as possible.
“Konsequent bis ins letzte Detail.” Translated as thorough down to the last detail. That’s a lousy translation. Rams says literally consequent/consistent to the last detail. Meaning, integrated in each and every aspect.
Germany is known for producing high-quality goods, but did you know that the Germans rarely work overtime and usually leave the office at 5PM?
This video cites four reasons for why the Germans are very efficient in what they do. It’s a bit simplified, but it their core the messages are accurate.
One clearly false statement is that for Germans the path to the goal is of secondary importance. In Germany the process used to reach a goal is seen as one side of the coin, with the other side being the outcome
The voice is computer-generated, but clear. The statements about Japanese business culture are not relevant for us, at least not yet on UC.
German cars vs. American cars. Germans are very proud of their automobiles.
Comments in YouTube: “Telling Germans how to make cars is like telling Italians how to make pizza.” … “To anyone saying that we Germans don‘t have any humour: We do actually! We laugh at French and American cars!”
“German: Uses the most advanced tech known to mankind to build the fastest, safest and over all best cars ever. American: slaps wheels and v8 on coffin.” … “Built in USA: Can do cool stunts in Hollywood movies. Built in Germany: Can do the same but on a real autobahn.”
These are the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Germany Brands in 2018. Many are known only to Germans. But the top 20 are known worldwide.
What do the top German brands have in common: efficiency, reliability, and quality. Made in Germany.
A brief video describing well the strengths of the German Mittelstand, small- to medium-sized companies typically in manufacturing and family-owned and -run.
The Mittelstand is often described as the heart of Germany’s economy – and rightly so, given that mid-sized firms account for the largest share of the country’s economic output, employ about 60 percent of all workers, provide crucial training, and contribute significantly to corporate tax revenues in Germany. See BDI
Ludwig Erhard, the Economics Minister who crafted post-war West Germany’s economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) warned against reducing the Mittelstand to a mere quantitative definition, but instead emphasized more qualitative characteristics which embody the German Mittelstand, as it is “much more of an ethos and a fundamental disposition of how one acts and behaves in society.”
This video is full of rather embarrassing clichés. And those clichés say more about the people repeating them than they do about the people they purport to describe.
Germany has the fourth-largest economy on the planet with only ca. eighty million people. Many of their companies dominate their markets. As if the German people did not know how to solve problems.
As one German commenter wrote: “I really don’t get how we are one of the most productive and powerful economies in the world while having to agree with this 100% at the same time.”
Oh wait, maybe because the maker of the video, Daniel-Ryan Spaulding, is an American comedian based in Berlin, and not, for example, an engineer working in any of the many world-class German companies.
As head of design at Braun, the German consumer electronics manufacturer, Dieter Rams (1932-) emerged as one of the most influential industrial designers of the late 20th century by defining an elegant, legible, yet rigorous visual language for its products.
Rams had Ten Principles of Good Design: Innovative. Usable. Aesthetic. Understandable. Discreet. Honest. Durable. Consistent to the last detail. Environmental. Minimalistic.
Product designer Dieter Rams became famous in the 20th century for his household products. Rams’ credo: “less is more” was a garantee for success. And some fifty years ago he came up with his 10 principles of good design. These guidelines remain valid even to this day.
See Dieter Rams’ famous Schneewittchensarg, in English Snow White’s Coffin. designed when he Rams was only 24 year old, and on the market in 1954. The Schneewittchensarg was considered a revolutionary in design.
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) was a German painter and printmaker who worked in the Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century.
Holbein was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, but he worked mainly in Basel, Switzerland as a young artist. Holbein travelled to England in 1526 in search of work, with a recommendation from the great European thinker, Erasmus of Rotterdam.
Holbein was welcomed into the humanist circle of Thomas More, the Archbishop of Canterbury, where he quickly built a strong reputation. By 1535, he was King’s Painter to none other than Henry VIII of England.
Of particular interest to us as students of German culture are minutes 22:20 to 25:00 in this very interesting mini-documentary about Hans Holbein. Pay particular attention to the segment 24:00-24:37. “If you wanted precision, quality and Vorsprung durch Technik (the current motto of Audi) you bought German.”
And by the way, the documentary is done exceptionally well. Tudor England. Henry the VIII. Thomas More. And, of course, Thomas Cromwell. Very much worth watching in full.
