A collection of Rules for and from Design Practice

The following rules are a collection of statements that I worshipped over the years. Sometimes pretty challenging but I strongly believe in those:

1. Just talking is not enough
2. Learning through visualisation, hands-on experimentalism, and creating quick prototypes
3. Be integer
4. Have a spirit of goodness
5. Make a plan…
6. Stay focus on topic
7. Follow the Vitruvian Virtues (Utilitas, Venustas, Firmitas)…
8. …and Dieter Rams 10 principles for good design
9. Tell visual Stories (Felix's PPiPP principle ⇒ Put Pictures into your Power Point Presentation)
10. Work interdisciplinary
11. Be ready to say no
12. Stay open-minded
13. Make your workspace a Living Art Memoria (as a technique of remembering)
14. Structure your data
15. Name your files
16. Back-up
17. Practice design – not decoration
18. The No Asshole Rule (see also picture below)

Don’t work for assholes. Don’t work with assholes. Poster by Erik Spiek­er­mann. 98€.

The list below shows a collection of rules that I heard/read more than two times at least. I agree with most of them…

• Keep it simple, stupid (the KISS principle)
• The unspectacular things are the important things (Dieter Rams)
• Ask Why/reflect
• Form teams
• Be a hard worker
• Create an atmosphere of debate and a culture of constructive controversy (ART+COM Studios)
• Make the world a much better place, by design, in every moment
• Encourage wild ideas
• Have an eye on the future
• Have a passion for change
• Trust your colleagues, share challenge and responsibility (ART+COM Studios)
• Share experiences, knowledge and results, internally and externally (ART+COM Studios)
• Stay motivated to experiment
• Build on the experience of others
• Failing means learning
• Venture outside the box ⇒ Forget about the box!
• Play and Enquire
• Enjoy collaborative Ideation
• Create more value then you capture
• Fail often to succeed sooner
• Chaos can be constructive
• Have the courage to fail (ART+COM Studios)
• Rapid (!) prototyping
• Have an identifiable attitude (ART+COM Studios)
• Break rules only if you know them (ART+COM Studios)
• Do things nobody has done before
• DIY
• Teach (ART+COM Studios)
• Take risks
• Have an eye on design
• Anyone who has nothing to communicate looks for style, anyone who lives by materialism honours the spirit , anyone who does business is furthering culture. (Otl Aicher)
• Develop your professional skills
• Cross borders
• Support and be supported
• Network