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Design should not dominate things, should not dominate people. It should help people. That's its role.
Dieter Rams
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Design should enhance and assist human experience rather than overwhelm it.

This quote by Dieter Rams emphasizes the role of design as a supportive tool for individuals rather than a controlling force. It suggests that good design should prioritize the needs and experiences of people, facilitating their interactions with objects and environments without becoming an intrusive or dominating aspect of their lives.

Themes

DesignPeopleExperienceSupportFunctionality

In practice

Example use cases

In a presentation about user-centered design principles.

More from Dieter Rams

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 consumer.
Dieter RamsRead
My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.
Dieter RamsRead
You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.
Dieter RamsRead
Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
Dieter RamsRead
My heart belongs to the details. I actually always found them to be more important than the big picture. Nothing works without details. They are everything, the baseline of quality.
Dieter RamsRead
Things which are different in order simply to be different are seldom better, but that which is made to be better is almost always different.
Dieter RamsRead

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