Last week our post was about Dieter Rams’ 6th principle of design: good design is honest. This week we’re diving into his 7th: good design is long-lasting. What does this mean, for something to be “long-lasting?” In the ever changing realm of technology it can be difficult to describe something as “long-lasting,” but in design it makes complete sense.
Let us explain…
If technology is always changing and trends are always coming-and-going, don’t we want to design something that will survive all these changes? Yes, we most certainly do! Because if we can manage to develop a design that can stand the test of time, then that means there will be far less complications and changes in the future. Sounds pretty great right?
So how can we create designs that can stand the test of time? Simple: beware of the trends!
Trends are interesting. They’re like a vortexual (not a word… definitely made that up) facade – they trick you into believing something is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen and then suck you into a hole of allowing that “thing” to consume all you do. For a more visual example in the world of web design, lets talk about carousel headers. We’re not saying all image carousel headers are bad, but many fail the test of time. They use to be super trendy, but users are all about speed. Regardless of how dope your website is, a user wants to spend as little time as possible on there. Maybe in 2008 carousel headers were all the rage, but 2020 people aren’t about to linger around to see all the slides in your carousel. Plus, all too often carousel headers don’t translate well on mobile or tablet. The words are being cut off or the image is cropping in a weird way to compensate for the screen size. They can be nice – but overall they fail the test of time.
So what are some trends we can count on sticking around? Here is a list of elements we believe will be sticking around for the long haul:
- Clear, easy-to-read typography
- Mobile first design
- Image heavy websites
If you use these elements in your website design then it’s likely your website design as a whole will be long-lasting. You don’t want the way your website looks to become the butt of the joke later. You know what we’re talking about (any website created circa early 2000s). Focusing more so on how your website functions rather than stuffing it with trendy material is the key to making sure whatever you design is long-lasting and here to stay.
Next week we will draw out Dieter Rams’ 8th principle of design: good design is thorough down to the last detail. It’ll be all about why we shouldn’t be lazy in our web design. You’ll definitely want to read!
