Dieter Rams

1. Good design is innovative.
2. Good design makes a product useful.
3. Good design is aesthetic.
4. Good design makes a product understandable.
5. Good design is honest.
6. Good design is unobtrusive.
7. Good design is long-lasting.
8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail.
9. Good design is environmentally friendly.
10. Good design is as little design as possible.

Few product designs have the staying power of creations by Dieter Rams. Almost everything produced by the most influential designer of the twentieth century is today considered a classic. This new and revised edition of Less but Better shows once again why Dieter Rams’s approach to design will be relevant for the foreseeable future.
Ideas of what can and must be achieved by good design are in a constant state of flux as a result of cultural and technological developments. Dieter Rams, however, came up with ten principles that advocate for a purist, almost imperceptible design. These principles are still considered timeless fundaments of design theory and practice today.
Less but Better does not set out to be a complete documentation of Dieter Rams’s body of work, nor does it claim to tell the full story of the company Braun. Rather the book explores the ideas, criteria, and methods behind Rams’s creations and reveals how a shifting culture of product manufacturing gave rise to universal design benchmarks. From his reflections on design ethics and values we can distill a clear paradigm for future design—because one principle has remained firm over the years: less is simply better.

In his more than 40 years at Braun, Dieter Rams established himself as one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century.
True to the principle of “less but better” his elegantly clear visual language not only defined product design for generations, but also our fundamental understanding of what design is and what it can and should do.

Less and More offers boundless inspiration for anyone interested in the aesthetic and functional aspects of applied design.

A short clip from Gary Hustwit’s documentary "Rams".

Colours taken from Dieter Rams legendary product collection for Braun.