Ten Principles of Good Design

Overview

The Ten Principles of Good Design is a framework developed by German industrial designer Dieter Rams in the late 1970s. It distills his four decades of practice at Braun into a list of ten criteria against which any industrial design can be evaluated. The principles remain one of the most cited ethical frameworks in design education.

The Ten Principles

1. Good design is innovative

The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design.

2. Good design makes a product useful

A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic.

3. Good design is aesthetic

The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being.

4. Good design makes a product understandable

It clarifies the product's structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

5. 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.

6. Good design is honest

It does not make a product more innovative, powerful, or valuable than it really is. It does not 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. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years.

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

Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

10. Good design is as little design as possible

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

Application

The principles are applied in design education, brand style guides, product reviews, and design criticism. They are not a checklist to be satisfied mechanically but a lens for evaluating trade-offs — for instance, between the aesthetic and the environmental principle.

Criticism

Later critics have noted that the principles assume a stable, well-resourced market and do not address circular-economy concerns explicitly. Nevertheless, principle 9 (environmentally friendly) anticipated the sustainability movement by decades.

Related Terms

• Dieter Rams
• Bauhaus