Audio branding strategist Karsten Kjems has taken Dieter Rams’ 10 principles for good design from the 1970s and rewritten each one to cover sound - including confirmation tones, alerts, and that fake shutter click. Read his 10 principles for good sound below:
Written by Karsten Kjems, shared with his kind permission
Dieter Rams wrote his 10 principles for good design in the 1970s. Somehow, they’ve only become more relevant since. They shaped Braun, inspired Apple, and influenced generations of designers. But what do they mean for sound?
Rams wasn’t really talking about appearance. He was talking about intention, honesty and restraint. Those ideas apply just as much to what a product sounds like as to how it looks.
So I translated all ten:
Good design is innovative
Sound should improve the user experience, not exist merely to show how clever a product is.
Good design makes a product useful
Sound should have a job: confirming an action, guiding the user or warning of a problem. If it doesn’t help, it probably shouldn’t be there.
Good design is aesthetic
The sounds around us shape our environment and wellbeing. Like objects, only what is well made can truly sound beautiful.
Good design makes a product understandable
A confirmation tone says, “It worked.” An alert says, “Pay attention.” Used well, sound helps a product explain itself.
Good design is unobtrusive
Products are tools, not performances. Sound should be present when needed and silent when it isn’t.
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Good design is honest
The fake shutter click. The chime that makes something cheap feel premium. Honest sound reflects what a product genuinely is, and earns trust.
Good design is long-lasting
Sound built around trends dates quickly. Good product sound should still feel right years after launch.
Good design is thorough to the last detail
A product sound may be heard thousands of times. Leaving it to chance is not a small oversight. It’s a lack of respect for the user.
Good design is environmentally friendly
Sound has its own form of pollution. Considerate sound contributes calm instead of clutter, and knows when silence is the responsible choice.
Good design is as little design as possible
Less, but better. Not more chimes or louder alerts, but fewer and more meaningful moments. Knowing when a product should say nothing is part of the craft.
Rams was right about all of it. He just never had much reason to apply these principles to sound. Products in his era didn’t speak the way they do now.
Today, they beep, chime, confirm and alert all day long. Every sound is a design decision, whether anyone made it intentionally or not.
Less, but better. It was never only about the things we can see.
Which principle do you hear broken most often?
Share your answer on Airwiggles, and see what other sound designers think.
Join the discussionAbout Karsten Kjems
Karsten Kjems is an audio branding strategist and has been CEO of the Copenhagen-based audio branding agency Sonic Minds since 2011, working on audio identities, sound logos, music production, and audio UX for brands. He is also an international awards juror, a keynote speaker, and a guest teacher in audio branding and sound design at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.
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