Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design

This was done back in the 1970’s and still rings true today.

Dieter Ram’s 10 principles of good design – print them out, and compare them to every website you visit. Or just memorize them.

According to Dieter, good design:

– Is innovative
– Makes a product useful
– Has aesthetic quality and value
– Makes a product understandable
– Is unobtrusive
– Is long-lasting
– Is thorough down to the last detail
– Is environmentally friendly
– Is as little design as possible

40 years later and it still rings true.

Read more about these principles on Vitsoe .

Footnote – my colleague (the man behind Ched Online) says there is an 11th one for the web, and it makes sense: Design should be iterative.

I feel smarter already.