Innovative
Useful
Aesthetic
Self-explanatory
Unobtrusive
Honest
Durable
Thorough
Environmentally-friendly
As little design as possible

Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – "an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises." Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?

As good design cannot be measured in a finite way he set about expressing the ten most important criteria for what he considered was good design. Subsequently they have become known as the 'Ten commandments'.

Here they are.