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June 2022
I am very aware that talking about Dieter Rams is cliché and every Yale designer will look down on me. Still, most designers look up to Rams so it is relevant like it or not. Here we go...
Dieter Rams defined good design with a list of 10 principles that I love but don’t fully agree with. As legendary and respected as his list is, it has many problems I am going to fix in an act of pure hubris because why not, this is the internet.
Innovation for the sake of innovation is plain useless. If something works, changing it “just because” will only make it worse. Most smart criticisms of modern art and design are, sadly, very on-point and I am afraid the last thing we need is keep glorifying innovation.
Let’s concentrate on plain usefulness and providing a good time for everyone.
I can’t stand the use of Aesthetic for beautiful. I am probably taking an unfair stance because I come from another language but Aesthetics is the realm of beauty and not just beauty. Let’s clarify and use a more useful word: Beautiful. Good design is beautiful.
Agree but design is not the sole route for making something easy to understand. Read the next point.
It is not just about getting out of the way but providing intelligible meaning for all. Why don’t we fuse understandableand unobtrusive in Clear. Much clearer right?
Yes.
Long-lasting does not work every time. Some products are good precisely because they don’t last. A great example is a paper cup; it is cheap, biodegradable, user friendly and efficient. Replacing paper cups with long-lasting plastic cups was a bad idea from the start. Let’s figure out the highest purpose and stay true to that.
I am a guy who tends to obsess over details and after decades of too many sleepless nights, I have learnt to control my obsession. Slowing down the useful with less useful detail is never a good choice. Good judgement to direct your focus is efficient. Let’s focus on efficiency for the sake of good design.
The problem with environmentally friendly is that it is too political and the conversation deviates from design and when it comes design, environmentally friendly in 2022 means building a huge shopping complex with one wall of vegetation or the ridiculous Marble Arch Mound.
The best way to build environmentally friendly is to not build at all, build to last or build to efficiently dispose of (rots or recycles). Stay away from political slogans and re-read what The Eames had to say about good design (PDF) and what Christopher Alexander meant with context. Nobody wants to destroy the natural environment but let’s talk about care in more honest terms.
Yes.