Rams' 10 Principles of Good Design

So for our first assignment we were directed to read this article about what this man, Dieter Rams, concluded to be the ten key elements for a product to be considered 'good design'. They are listed below:

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

All of these make an immense amount of sense and I couldn't agree more with any of them, however,  it would be rather difficult for a product to meet absolutely all the criteria on this list. I consider something with good design probably to have at least half of these elements. The product I chose for my good design project, Clocky (pictured below), qualifies for many:

• It is definitely innovative - an alarm clock that rolls away? Sounds genius to me.
• It makes a product useful - the wheels enable it able to roll around to force you to chase after it.
• It's aesthetic - it has a cute little compact design, and the color definitely helps.
• It makes a product understandable - the wheels are there for obvious reasons and help show what the clock's purpose is.
• It's unobtrusive - like I stated before, it has a very compact design.
• It's honest - it truly does what it's meant to do - help the owner wake up by forcing them to chase it.
• It's long-lasting - the wheels appear to be very durable and, while I've only had it since Christmas, it still seems to be going strong.
• It is thorough down to the last detail - it gives you multiple options, such as how long after you hit snooze he starts rolling and you can even opt out of it moving.
• It is environmentally-friendly - you can use rechargeable batteries for it.
• It's as little design as possible - With only 6 buttons and a screen, this baby is all set to go.

After listing all these reasons, it is clear as to why this would be the best product for my project. While the other items I picked out - a beauty blender, wet brush, camelback water bottle, and tervis - still consisted of good design, they did not nearly excel in all the areas like Clocky did. I'm so glad I chose to pack him spur-of-the-moment seeing as he is definitely a well-designed product!