From 1943 to 1957, Rams studied architecture and carpentry at the Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden. From 1953 to 1955, he worked briefly for the architect Otto Apel, and then joined the design department of the appliance manufacturer Braun. At the same time, he established an industry-university relationship with the Ulm School of Design. In 1961, he was promoted to chief designer of Braun, a title he still held until 1995.

Rahms once stated that his design concept is "less, but better" (Less, but better, German: Weniger, aber besser), which is consistent with the modernist architect Mies van der ... Luo's famous saying "Less is more" has an interesting meaning in contrast. He and his design team designed many classic products for Braun, including the famous gramophone SK-4 (known as "Snow White's Coffin"), and the high-quality D series slide projectors D45 and D46. He is also famous for designing the 606 Universal Storage System (1960) for the furniture manufacturer Vitsoe.

Many of his designs, such as coffee machines, computers, radios, audio-visual equipment, home appliances, and office products, are in the permanent collections of museums around the world, including New York's Museum of Modern Art. Dieter Rams led Braun's design department for nearly 30 years until his retirement in 1998. Since then, his movements have continued to attract great attention from the design community, and retrospective exhibitions of his works have been toured around the world.

In 2010, students from the International Design School in Cologne awarded the ‘K?lner Klopfer’ award to Dieter Rams in recognition of his contribution to the global design community.