Less, but better
A study of the Braun audio grid as a quiet rejection of "packaging." We explore Dieter Rams's philosophy of "less, but better" as a moral argument for utility, and how the difficult art of removing the non-essential creates its own timeless aesthetic.
2 min read
Nov 10, 2025
The Braun audio grid is a quiet rejection of "packaging." It’s a system built on a principle: order creates utility. "As little design as possible" is an act of respect. It was designed to be used, not just looked at.
Dieter Rams's work in the 60s was a quiet answer to a loud culture. While other products shouted, his Braun Wandanlage systems spoke in a calm, logical grid. This philosophy was perfected in the 606 Universal Shelving System.
The 606 is not a statement piece. It’s a neutral framework. A system designed to disappear and give order to your possessions.
This was the tension. A world of expressive styling versus a philosophy of pure, functional order. His work wasn't an aesthetic. It was a moral argument for utility.
The design principle is utility as its own aesthetic. Rams's work was the tension. He rejected "packaging" for pure order. He believed a product's only duty was to be useful, and its form must follow that function. With total honesty.
In this system, beauty isn't applied at the end. It’s the natural result of a logical, well-ordered structure. The grid, the proportions, the clean lines. This is not "minimalism." It is the visible proof of utility. That proof becomes its own aesthetic.
This is mastery expressed as patience. The craft is not in the styling. It is in the rigorous, disciplined work of not styling. Rams’s patience was in finding the most logical, most orderly solution. For every button. Every dot on the grid.
This subtle discipline is what produces the system's confidence. The Braun grid doesn't shout. Its logic is self-evident. It is the physical proof that the most difficult act of craft is removing the non-essential. A quiet, earned confidence.
This is the philosophy of utility.
Restraint is the discipline to reject "packaging" in favor of pure function. Mastery is the patience to find the most logical solution, not the loudest one. Taste is the confidence that a well-ordered system is its own timeless aesthetic.
This is the signature of all honest work. Order is not a style. It is the foundation of use.
