Design | Kaelan

Design is the set of decisions that shape how something looks, feels, and works. Every artifact carries these decisions — explicit or default. Choosing not to design is still a design choice.

Visual design operates through contrast, hierarchy, and rhythm. Contrast creates focus; hierarchy guides attention; rhythm creates coherence. The principles apply whether the medium is a poster, an interface, or a room.

Taste develops through exposure and articulation. Seeing many examples builds the database; naming what works makes the pattern portable. The eye trains like any other skill — through deliberate practice.

Dieter Rams distilled his principles into ten: good design is innovative, useful, aesthetic, understandable, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, and involves as little design as possible. The last principle captures the others: subtract until removing anything would make it worse.

The Braun products Rams shaped (radios, calculators, shavers) look obvious now because they set the template. Apple’s design language descends directly from Rams through Jony Ive. The 1960s Braun T3 pocket radio prefigures the iPod down to the circular control dial.

Good design disappears. The door handle that invites grasping — what James Gibson called an affordance. The interface that anticipates the next action. The chair that supports posture without demanding attention. Users shouldn’t notice the design; they should accomplish their purpose. Invisible is often the highest achievement.