Dieter Rams: Ten Principles for Good Design
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An ingenious kit of parts
Like Lego for grown-ups, Vitss shelving system is an ingenious kit of parts
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Vitss ethos
Living better, with less, that lasts longer. Mark Adams, managing director of Vits explains our ethos.
Dieter Rams:
ten principles
for good designBack in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world arounhim an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises. Aware that he was a significant contributoto that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?
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As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important principlefor what he considered was good design. (Sometimes they are referred as the Ten commandments.)
Here they are.
Good design is
innovativeThe possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is alwaysoffering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem withinnovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.
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Good design makes a
product usefulA product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychologicaland aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that couldpossibly detract from it.
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Good design is
aestheticThe aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect ourperson and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
Good design makes aproduct
understandableIt clarifies the products structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.
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Good design is
unobtrusiveProducts fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their desigshould therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the users self-expression.
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Good design is honest
It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt tomanipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
Good design is long-
lastingIt avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts manyyears even in todays throwaway society.
Read about 620
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Things which are different in order simply tobe different are seldom better, but that whichis made to be better is almost alwaysdifferent.
Dieter Rams, 1993
My goal is to omit everything superfluous so
that the essential is shown to best possibleadvantage.
Dieter Rams, 1980
Good design is
thorough, down to the
last detailNothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards tconsumer.
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Good design is
environmentally-
friendlyDesign makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources andminimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Read about 606
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Good design is as little
design as possibleLess, but better because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened withnon-essentials.
Back to purity, back to simplicity.
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Copyright and usage
All photographs copyright Vits unless otherwise stated
Vitss ethos
Back in 1959 Vitss proposition was to eschew fashion while creating products that would be the neutralcanvas on which to paint your colourful life.
After half a century our resolve is stronger than ever: more of us must learn the art of living better with lessthat lasts longer.
Read more about our ethos
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Our shelving system
Designed by Dieter Rams in 1960, 606 Universal Shelving System was conceived to be timeless.
You can start small, add to it, rearrange it and take it with you when you move.
You can buy a single shelf or an entire library.
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