What is "Good" Design? A quick look at Dieter Rams' Ten Principles.
What is "Good" Design? A quick look at Dieter Rams' Ten Principles.
What does "good" design look like and are there any instructions on how to create it? Dieter Rams, legendary industrial designer, who's "less but better" approach inspired a generation of products, is famed for writing the Ten Principles of Good design.
What's the story?
In the late 1970s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly interested in the world of things that surrounded him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” As a designer, Rams was aware that he played an important role in the world he was helping create, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?
Good design is subjective and can't necessarily be measured. However Rams attempted to express what he believed to be the most important principles for design.
Here is a brief overview:
These principles have become iconic and have inspired designers across the world.
What can I do?
Apple.
Apple's love of sleek and simple design reflects how they were inspired by the work Rams was doing Braun as a product designer. Many critics have exclaimed that Apple was copying Rams. Rams however believed "it's a compliment that they use the [same] basic thinking about what design can be". Rams has been equally fond of Apples's work and regards them as one of the "few companies that take design seriously".
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