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
Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
Interpretation
Good design focuses on functionality and minimizes distractions.
Dieter Rams emphasizes that effective design should prioritize the practical use of a product, stripping away any unnecessary elements that may hinder its functionality. This principle advocates for simplicity and utility, suggesting that the best designs enhance the user experience without superfluous embellishments.
In practice
In a design conference, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of usability in product design.
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.
My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.
You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.
Design should not dominate things, should not dominate people. It should help people. That's its role.
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.
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.
Design must be an innovative, highly creative, cross-disciplinary tool responsive to the needs of men. It must be more research-oriented, and we must stop defiling the earth itself with poorly-designed objects and structures.
Often the most important moment in the design process is figuring out what the right question is.
If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape. The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page... When it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.
It is sad that so many designers don't know how to make. CAD software can make a bad design look palatable! It is sad that four years can be spent on a 3D design course without making anything! People who are great at designing and making have a great advantage.
We won't do something different for different's sake. Designers cave in to marketing, to the corporate agenda, which is sort of, 'Oh, it looks like the last one; can't we make it look different?' Well no, there's no reason to.
Good design should be available to everyone - and I do mean everyone. What I spent on the wheelchair I'm in could buy a small Mercedes. It's not only unfair to me; it's unfair to someone who's indigent but has the same needs. My goal is to make all objects affordable.
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