We will be discussing some of Dieter Ram's principles for good design or more commonly known as the ten commandments of design in this blog.
Dieter Rams is one of the most creative designers of our time. He was extremely prevalent in the 60's and was in charge of all consumer products for Braun, such as razors, calculators, and shavers.
Dieter Rams is now a retired German designer. His products introduced the world to a functional design style. When it comes to functionalist design, the purpose is intended for the product to be a moving force through its design.
Every design decision behind Rams' product, including its shape, texture, and cost was made to maximize his objects to full capability.
This seems like a no brainer right? However, it isn't. For example, an amazing look at the new MacBook Air. Apple made the decision to take out their extremely useful USB port to decrease the thickness of their laptop.
This decision was made to make the laptop look more attractive. Sometimes designers need to make products look like they represent specific identities. Fashion designers do it all the time where they focus on the appearance of the clothing rather than the functionality of it.
He's also known for creating beautiful and simple designs that were stunning yet very easy to use and understand. Dieter Rams is very prevalent in the UX and product design community.
Dieter Rams is not only a practitioner of design, but he came up with ten design principles, which are used in today's society for various things.
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Principles of Good Design
Let's get started...
Good Design is Innovative
The depths of good design have never been explored as it is right now. All of the high technology at our disposal, offers designers an amazing opportunity to solve problems in tandem.
Ankur is a great example of good design. Ankur is a podcasting platform for iOS and Android. Furthermore, they do an incredible job in the audio and podcasting field.
Podcasting is a technology that has been around for a while, but Ankur provides an astonishing design and solutions to the problem of making a podcast. Ankur has invested countless hours in simplifying the tedious process of creating a podcast on your phone.
Good Design Makes a Product Useful
A product is a purchase to be used, which includes a phone, application, and website. If someone browses a website, they're using their time, and they're purchasing it with the seconds they spend by landing on the homepage.
Therefore, the product not only has to be beautiful but also useful. This concept serves as an excellent reminder to designers not to get too focused on the aesthetic and realize that a stick is a great design if you need to poke something. Thus, always create simple and compelling website design.
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Good Design is Aesthetic
When you hear someone say good design is aesthetic, you might be thinking, "well, of course," but it's not that obvious. When you do user research and spend a lot of time analyzing and auditing a product for its effectiveness, you will find that people can't describe why they don't enjoy something.
This is because the aesthetics are used everyday and the well-execution of objects makes the product more appealing.
Good Design Makes a Product Understandable
There are complicated things, and a couple of different ways that designers can easily simplify it. You can simplify the product itself by streamlining and stripping off features and the extra bells and whistles.
However, you could use your design resources and skills to make more sense of those items. You can do it through aesthetics, content, and everything you have at your disposal as a designer.
Moreover, you will need to use all of these tools to grab people by explaining the product immediately, and then draw them in for more information.
Good Design is Unobtrusive
As a designer, you should scale back and take things down and simplify it. Therefore, when it comes to all forms of design, you need to make sure that your design does not intrude on the objective of the design.
It's good to love your color palette or the images you're using, but if it impedes the user's ability to use the product, you have gone too far, and you need to scale it back.
Good Design is Honest
There is a bait and switch that can happen when you offer something to users. If users were to download your app only to find out that the app doesn't work as they expect it too, or was misleading, then that would result in poor user experience. Therefore, it's always better to be honest about the product itself.
Good Design is Long Lasting
It's essential to ignore the hype and the trends in our design society and spend time on the problem instead of trying to be popular. Innovative people and products stand out for good or bad reasons, but they still stand out.
Good Design includes Every Detail
This concept means to be detail oriented. You want to make sure nothing is up for chance. Therefore, focus on every single aspect of the design, and make sure it qualifies to be a part of that design as a whole. So, design things with care, concern, and thoroughness.
Good Design is Environmentally-Friendly
This concept speaks to the fact that we belong to a greater world, and the things that we make end up in a landfill. When a designer creates or redesign a website or an application, there's a server running to support, and that's causing pollution.
Therefore, load times, products, and everything that gets factored into what designers create should make them with an environmentally-friendly conscious.
Good Design Equals Minimal Design
All the design principles focus on this concept. If you want to make your design look and feel good and make it fit right and contextually relevant, don't over make it.
In Summary
The ten commandments of Dieter Rams has shown us that minimalism and functionality is the right approach to take when it comes to modern-day design.
Furthermore, Dieter Ram's principles show us proof of his professional stance. Then, due to these principles, designers can allow themselves to make these principles their values and philosophy of their design.
Therefore, it's essential that whenever you're designing for a product or service, always keep the user experience in mind.
Dieter may not have mentioned the user experience, but all his ideas still use the same philosophy and values. As Dieter has taught us, designers need to implement their creativity using the ten principles of design.
It's essential to ask yourself how you are applying these design principles to your everyday design process. Using these design principles will ensure that your designs are not mediocre but fantastic, simple, and pure.
If you're interested in a web design company that uses these principles, contact the skilled web designers at TOLS Multimedia today. Our orlando web design company can help you with all of your design needs.
When it comes to design, make sure to take a look in the mirror and recognize the kind of designer you are. As you move forward through your design process, be aware of the little problems that come up and how you naturally design solutions for your designs.
