Friday, February 11, 2011

Journal Entry 2/14



Dieter Rams: 10 Principles for Good Design

Dieter Rams became increasingly aware and concerned about the world around him. He asked himself, "is my design good design?" He developed 10 principles of good design.


1. Good Design is innovative.
"Innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself."

2. Good design makes a product useful. Products are bought to work. They must work well and good design must emphasize the usefulness of the product

3. Good design is aesthetic. "The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being."

4. Good design makes a product understandable. It makes the product self-explanatory.

5. Good design is unobtrusive.
"Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression."

6. Good Design is honest


7. Good Design is long lasting.


8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail. Little details show a concern for the consumer.

9.Good design is environmentally friendly.


10.Good design is as little design as possible.
Less is better.




Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy:

Norman's new life is trying to understand what beauty is about, and trying to make things fun and neat. Beautiful and functional objects are fun. He talks about many products that are fun, including a ping pong table that has fish and water projected onto it. Google's logo has as many O's as there are pages of results. It's clever, simple, and subtle. The subconscious mind notices it because it is pleasant.

He talks about the Mini Cooper. In a New York Times Revue, they said even though it has many faults, buy it anyway. It is still fun to drive. The inside is round, fun, and neat. He says "Pleasant things work better."

He moves on to discuss how if a plank of wood was on the ground, one would have no problem jumping on it, walking on it, etc. But if you put that plan 300 feet in the air, one would not go anywhere near it. Fear paralyzes you and how the brain works. Fear and anxiety cause the brain to focus.

Visceral level of Processing: There is an amazing amount of stuff programmed into the brain. In design, you can spread the visceral level through type faces, color choice, etc.

The middle level of processing is the behavioral level.This is where most of our stuff gets done. Subconscious thought process. Most of what we do is subconscious. The feeling of being in control. Emotion is about interpreting the world.

Reflective super ego. does not control senses, but looks over, and watches. Little voice in your head.

No comments:

Post a Comment