Comments on: What are your Principles of Good Design?

By: DT

DT — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:54:32 +0000

@Danny: Are you referring to my principles of good design in this post? If I assume you mean my principles, then I certainly do my best to adhere to them. Wouldn’t you?

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:25:42 +0000

Ironically, does the principle of Good Design applies when you design the Sketchbook?

By: Pauly

Pauly — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:31:30 +0000

Good design should be adaptable/flexile, truly good design will function well and look good even when it’s being used for something it was never intended for. Good design also decays with grace, some things might look great as you pull it out of the box but truly well designed things are intercepted by those dudes that go through your trailer when you go to the tip.

By: DT

DT — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:20:51 +0000

Sorry for the late replies!

@Adiel: I think sustainability should be in there somewhere, or perhaps a “hygiene” factor instead. Meaning a must have. I personally would like to leave it out, as you can have bad sustainable designs as well.

@Martin: Ethical, is to me another “hygiene” factor and not key to crafting a good design.

@Arnomat: This strategic level thinking has many applications, and you are right to say clients need to operate on the same level as we do.

@Peter: Pragmatism is one key attribute many designers lack, and this results in design/products getting killed even before they leave the table. This is a result of designers pushing their way and not compromising.

Thanks for all your advice and comments, I will see if I can update these principles!

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:37:23 +0000

I’d throw “communicates” or “wins” into the mix. A client who cant see a good design is one of the arbiters and metersticks. So acknowledgement of where the client is and how far he can be taken on the journey to ‘ultimate good’ is what gets the bread on the table. Does pragmatism rate in the lexicon?