I wrote this as an internal memo at DevDash to emphasize why we need good design. This has been reproduced as is here.
10 Principles of Good Design
by Dieter Rams
Nitesh Pant
Dec 25, 2024
What is a good design? Dieter Rams was fascinated by this question, and in the 1960s began creating principles of good design that would go on to influence industrial design, including ones at Apple.
Dieter Rams “is one of the most influential industrial designers of the 20th century. He served as the chief design officer at Braun from 1961 to 1995, where he created or oversaw the design of hundreds of iconic products including radios, calculators, record players, and household appliances. His minimalist, functional aesthetic has profoundly influenced modern design, particularly visible in Apple's product design philosophy” (claude.ai).
At DevDash, we, and in particular, I, truly care about good design. There is no reason to build something if it doesn’t look good, feel good, or work good. Mediocrity is not an option. Perfection is the ideal. While perfection cannot be achieved on our first try, we can iteratively lead ourselves to perfection. This is our design ethos - work consistently towards an ideal product that works, looks, and feels good for its users, iterating along the way. What guides us is Dieter Rams’s ideology - Ten principles for good design.
1) Good design is innovative
Innovation happens in technology and in the design of that technology; thus design must innovate
2) Good design makes a product useful
Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it
3) Good design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because we use these products every day, and these products affect our well-being
4) Good design makes a product understandable
Good design clarifies the product’s structure; it can make the product talk
5) Good design is unobtrusive
Design should be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression
6) Good design is honest
Good design doesn’t attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept
7) Good design is long-lasting
It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated
8) Good design is thorough down to the last detail
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance; care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the user
9) Good design is environmentally-friendly
Good design must preserve the environment, conserve resources, and minimize physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product
10) Good design is as little design as possible
Less, but better. Back to purity, back to simplicity
Sources: vitose