name	dec-rams-principles
description	Dieter Rams' 10 principles of good design — the taste-and-restraint rubric (innovative, useful, aesthetic, understandable, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, as little design as possible). Use when judging design quality, defending restraint over decoration, or setting a north star for a product's visual and functional character.
tags	["design-principles","rams","taste","minimalism","quality","always-on"]

Dieter Rams — 10 Principles of Good Design

A rubric for judging whether a design is good, not just functional. Good design is:

Innovative — advances with technology, never an end in itself.
Useful — emphasizes usefulness; discards anything that detracts from it.
Aesthetic — beauty is integral to usefulness; well-made objects affect wellbeing.
Understandable — clarifies structure; ideally self-explanatory.
Unobtrusive — neutral and restrained, leaving room for the user.
Honest — doesn't promise more than it delivers or manipulate.
Long-lasting — avoids fashion; stays relevant across years.
Thorough to the last detail — nothing arbitrary; care expresses respect for the user.
Environmentally friendly — conserves resources, minimizes waste.
As little design as possible — less, but better. Concentrate on the essential.

Score a design candidate against all ten; weak scores name the work to do.
#10 is the tiebreaker: when in doubt, remove. Decoration must justify itself against restraint.
#6 (honest) maps directly to anti-dark-pattern work — no manipulation, no false promises.

name	dec-rams-principles
description	Dieter Rams' 10 principles of good design — the taste-and-restraint rubric (innovative, useful, aesthetic, understandable, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, as little design as possible). Use when judging design quality, defending restraint over decoration, or setting a north star for a product's visual and functional character.
tags	["design-principles","rams","taste","minimalism","quality","always-on"]

A rubric for judging whether a design is good, not just functional. Good design is:

Innovative — advances with technology, never an end in itself.
Useful — emphasizes usefulness; discards anything that detracts from it.
Aesthetic — beauty is integral to usefulness; well-made objects affect wellbeing.
Understandable — clarifies structure; ideally self-explanatory.
Unobtrusive — neutral and restrained, leaving room for the user.
Honest — doesn't promise more than it delivers or manipulate.
Long-lasting — avoids fashion; stays relevant across years.
Thorough to the last detail — nothing arbitrary; care expresses respect for the user.
Environmentally friendly — conserves resources, minimizes waste.
As little design as possible — less, but better. Concentrate on the essential.

Score a design candidate against all ten; weak scores name the work to do.
#10 is the tiebreaker: when in doubt, remove. Decoration must justify itself against restraint.
#6 (honest) maps directly to anti-dark-pattern work — no manipulation, no false promises.

dec-rams-principles