PRINCIPLES OF A GOOD DESIGN: DIETER RAMS

The “ten commandments” of Dieter Rams concerning what a good design is or should be summarizes the essentials of a good design. What this paper seeks to do is to analyze and scrutinize these statements alongside Dieter Rams’ speech, discussing whether these principles capture what a good design is and what is not, making modifications to the principles where necessary.

To begin with, a feature of good design that was picked upon was that good design should avoid waste. A product that becomes waste makes the designer a designer of the moment and not much of a forward looking one. A good designer would not want his effort and skills to end up at a landfill and this makes it incumbent on the designer to ensure that his work is not considered waste at any point in time. It is important that the designed product has the ability to be taken back into the design process even after its intended use. In avoiding waste, good design becomes environmentally friendly. It involves being concerned about the product from manufacturing to its disposal; it involves making sure that all the stages of the product life cycle are catered for to avoid harm to the people around.

There also is a resolute emphasis on functionality from all the texts being reviewed and I think it is not an unnecessary emphasis. I strongly agree that functionality is core to a good design because the true essence of design is to meet needs. The way in which this need is satisfied depends on a host of other factors but in the end, the purpose for which the design was made should be made manifest in the designed product. Design to impress and polish things up is packaging and not design because there should be a clear satisfaction of need and not a mere marketing strategy. Fun...

... middle of paper ...

...moves, design should also move along.

In conclusion, I am certain that the ten principles adequately capture what good design is or should be as seen from my plethora of points buttressing most of the principles, only disagreeing on a few of them. The disagreements were duly modified to suit the essentials of good design from my point of view. On the whole, I agree that good design focuses on making things simple, ensuring that all the required elements are incorporated in the design, ignoring non essentials.

Works Cited

Dieter Rams on Good Design as A Key Business Business Advantage. (2013, November 09). Retrieved from fastcompany.com: http://www.fastcompany.com/

Hustwit, G. (Director). (2009). Objectified [Motion Picture].

Rams, D. (2013, November 9). Dieter Rams : 10 principles For Good Design. Retrieved from readymag.com: https://readymag.com/u15041256/32/3/