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Design has a long tradition in Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century, Peter Behrens designed products, posters and buildings for AEG, the electrical goods firm. In 1907 the Deutscher Werkbund was founded with the purpose of promoting the “refinement of working life through the combined influence of art, industry and the craft trades”. The Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 and which existed until 1933, became world famous. The same is true of the Ulm College of Design, which was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill. While it initially followed in the footsteps of the Bauhaus, it soon pursued concepts of its own and set internationally acknowledged standards for design during the 15 years of its existence and strongly influenced many prominent designers.  
 
For many years, the name Braun was closely linked, especially abroad, with the concept of German design, which combines functionality with complexity and technology. Braun design was largely defined by Dieter Rams. Other German firms set and indeed still set styles with their products: Wilkhahn in Bad Münder and Vitra in Weil am Rhein for furniture, Lamy for writing implements and Erco for luminaires.  
 
In the information age, the importance of design in creating new media is assuming an ever greater role. Apart from the aesthetic dimension while deciphering complex information, design plays an important intermediary role between IT advances and the cultural and social developments.  
 
The German Design Council advises and supplies information in matters of design to trade and industry, cultural institutions as well as the public. One of the focuses of its activities is presenting German design outside Germany. On behalf of the Federal Minister of Economics and Labor it awards the “Federal Prize for Product Design” and on alternate years the “Federal Prize for Design Promotion”.  
 
In addition to the German Design Council there are a range of other design institutions in Germany. Among the most important are the International Design Center (IDZ) in Berlin, the “designcenter” in Stuttgart, and the Essen-based Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen.  
 
The interests of designers vis-à-vis the political sector and the public are represented by the German Designer Forum, which among other things constitutes the Design section of the German Arts Council, the umbrella organization of the federal arts associations.

Contemporary German furniture design, but also contemporary international furniture design in general, appears to be influenced by a new minimalism, which characterises the work of designers such as Axel Kufus (born in 1958), Hauke Murken (born in 1963), Vogt + Weizzenegger (Oliver Vogt, born in 1966 and Hermann Weizenegger, born in 1963) and Jakob Gebert (born in 1965). The decisive factor here is not objective reduction, however, but the sounding out of the qualities of the materials and their inherent creative, functional and technical possibilities.

Communication design is intended to make life easier and more humane and to raise an awareness of humanitarian issues, counteracting the tendency towards isolation through media networking. After all, "today it is easier to send an email halfway around the world than to speak to one's neighbour".

For Anna Berkenbusch communication design is linked to ethical standards, for the profession has the possibility to mould and manipulate consciousness. Design of the form only begins once the subject has been completely understood and once one can identify oneself with the fundamental idea of the project. As for example in the design of a series of posters for sound installations by artists like Eller, Öldorp, Kuhn and Auinger in buildings on the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin that have not yet been rented out. Here, designing the artwork meant converting the work of the artist graphically, without a concrete piece of work as a starting point. In the first instance this required studying the works of the artists very closely. Conforming to the description of the artistic concepts, Ms Berkenbusch then planned an appropriate graphic design for the room in question portraying analogies to elements of the work such as light, metal, glass, water, sound, grass, fire, combustion, heat, etc.

As a furniture maker, I feel a responsibility to ensure my products do not adversely affect the environment with any unnecessary energy and material consumption. I compare the implementation possibilities, narrow them down and consider the relevant elements involved.

Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design (KGID) was founded in 1991. The office specializes in various fields of design ranging from furniture and industrial products to exhibition design and architecture related work.