Jamie Le Souef

I stumbled upon Dieter Rams 10 design principles of good design a while ago and I constantly refer to back to them so i thought I would share them with the you. If you don’t know who Dieter Rams is a quick Google search will amaze you and defiantly bring you up to speed on one of the pioneers of modern design.

Here are the

01. Good design is innovative.
It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce any kind of novelty just for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all of a product’s functions. Current technological development keeps offering new chances for innovative solutions.

02. Good design makes a product useful.
The product is bought or used in order to be used. It must serve a defined purpose — in both primary and additional functions. The most important task of design is to optimize the utility of a product’s usability.

03. Good design is aesthetic.
The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

04. Good design helps us to understand a product.
It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

05. Good design is unobtrusive.
Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

06. Good design is honest.
It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it normally is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

07. Good design has longevity.
It does not follow trends that become outdated after a short time. Well designed products differ significantly from short-lived trivial products in today’s throwaway society.

08. Good design is consequent to the last detail.
Nothing must be arbitrary. Thoroughness and accuracy in the design process shows respect toward the user.

09. Good design is concerned with the environment.
Design must make contributions toward a stable environment and sensible raw material situation. This does not only include actual pollution, but also visual pollution and destruction of our environment.

10. Good design is as little design as possible.
Less is better — because it concentrates on the essential aspects and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 10:50 am and is filed under Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are 5 Responses to “ Good Design is Honest – Dieter Rams’s 10 design principles ”

1

Jamie Le Souef Says

I would love to hear your thoughts!

August 26th, 2008 at 11:30 am

2

Ange Says

I’m by no means a designer however, the principles Dieter Rams puts forth make sense… especially the innovative part. They can be applied to almost any form of creativity… like writing for instance! ;)

Great sharing!

August 26th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

3

Jamie Le Souef Says

It’s true, you can defiantly apply thoes rules to anything creative – not just design.

August 27th, 2008 at 8:45 am

5

Candace Says

These principles apply to designing anything, from furniture to books to SEO website design. Sometimes we forget the KISS principle, which is aptly illustrated here.

October 16th, 2009 at 5:47 am

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