Dieter Rams  10 principles for good design Examples

    • Good design is innovative.

    • Good design makes a product useful.

    • Good design is aesthetic.

    • Good design helps us to understand a product.

    • Good design is unobtrusive.

    • Good design is honest.

    • Good design is durable.

    • Good design is consequent to the last detail.

    • Good design is concerned with the environment.

    • Good design is as little design as possible
 
              
  Dieter Rams is the inspiration for Jonathan Ive ...

 (in case you don't know, Jonathan Ive is the lead designer for Apple: iPod Mac iPhone Air Ipad)

and read what Steve Jobs said about design:
2000, 2011a, 2011b

[updated August 27, 2012]