The ten principles that started this. Written by Dieter Rams in 1976, about the products he shaped at Braun.
The summaries below are paraphrased lightly. The credit is all his.
The possibilities for innovation are far from exhausted. Technological development keeps offering new opportunities — and common sense tells us to use them in service of people, not spectacle.
A product is bought to be used. Good design emphasises usefulness and quietly discards anything that gets in the way.
The things we use every day affect us and our well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful — and common sense recognises the difference.
It clarifies the product's structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.
Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. Their design should therefore be neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user's self-expression.
It does not make a product appear more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate with promises that cannot be kept.
It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years — even in today's throwaway society.
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the user.
Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Less, but better — because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.