Dieter Rams' Ten Principles for Good Design

Good Design: Dieter Rams' Ten Principles
Image: Adapted from a file on Wikimedia Commons

Dieter Ram is synonymous with industrial design. He is also known for his affiliation with Braun GmbH, a German consumer products company where he worked for nearly four decades. He was a pioneer in bringing in the concept of sustainable development in design. 

Ram belonged to the functionalist school of industrial design and his career peaked in the Seventies. His visual consciousness of the world has made a profound impact in the world of design. Needless to say, Ram came up with the ten principles for good design, which is the effort of a genius. Objectivity is difficult to maintain in design. But here we have, his ten commandments:

  1. Good design is innovative
  2. Good design makes a product useful
  3. Good design is aesthetic
  4. Good design makes a product understandable
  5. Good design is unobtrusive
  6. Good design is honest
  7. Good design is long-lasting
  8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail
  9. Good design is environmentally-friendly
  10. Good design is as little design as possible

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