Dieter Rams was a German born industrial engineer, he is a renouned designer who has had a long career lasting over 50 years. Dieter Rams is also known today for creating the “Good Design Principles”. The good design principles are a set of 10 rules or guidelines that a designer should ask themselves when creating a design.

Dietar Rams questioned himself during the 1970’s, asking himself “Is my design a good design?”. He expanded upon this question by creating a list of ten rules or guidelines that point towards a good design. Below is the list of principles and my definitions for what each point means.

  1. Good design is Innovative - Theres no point designing something that isn’t going to contribute to the overall progress of good design principles.

  2. Good design makes the product useful - The design should work alongside the initial purpose of the product, helping it to complete its task as simple as possible.

  3. Good design is aesthetic - The design should be pleasing to the eye, making the user want to continue using it and others to start.

  4. Good design makes a product understandable - The design should be straight-forward and easily understandable by the users.

  5. Good design in unobtrusive - The design of the product should not conflict or get in the way of using the product.

  6. Good design is honest - The design should not be masked as being able to do anything more than it was intended to do.

  7. Good design is long lasting - The design of the product is intended to lat for years to come, there should be no short term designs.

  8. Good design is thorough to the last detail - Everything about the design should be intended, every detail shoud have a carefully thoughout purpose.

  9. Good design is environmentaly friendly - The creation of the design should not come at the cost of others, it must be sustainable to create.