10 Principles For Good Design

Dieter Rams

4 Good design is innovative.

6 Good design makes a product useful.

8 Good design is aesthetic.

10 Good design makes a product understandable.

12 Good design is unobtrusive.

16 Good design is honest.

18 Good design is long-lasting.

20 Good design is thorough down to the last detail.

22 Good design is environmentally friendly.

24 Good design is as little design as possible.

4

Braun, 1972KF 20 Aromaster

The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

Good design is innovative.

1

6

Braun, 1987ET 66 Calculator

A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional but also psycho-logical and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product while disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Good design makes a product useful.

2

8

Braun, 1951LE 1 Electrostatic Speaker

The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

Good design is aesthetic.

3

10

Braun, 1958L 2 Speaker

It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self explanatory.

Good designmakes a product understandable.

4

12

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.

Good design isunobtrusive.

5

Vitsœ, 1960606 Universal

Shelving System

16

Braun, 1964FS 80 TV

It does not make a product more innovative, power-ful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Good design is honest.

6

18

Braun, 1968T2 Table Lighter

It avoids being fashionable and therefore never ap-pears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

Good design is long-lasting.

7

20

Braun, 1978ABR 21 Signal Radio

Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Good design is thorough down to the last detail.

8

22

Vitsœ, 1962620 Chair Program

Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves re-sources and minimises physical and visual pollu-tion throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Good design is environmentally friendly.

9

24

Braun, 1959TP 1 Radio/Phono

Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not bur-dened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Good design is as little design as possible.

10

Designed by Adam Noffsinger