Just watched a short interview-video with Dieter Rams. And here his ten principles to “good design”:

  1. Good design is innovative
  2. Good design makes a product useful
  3. Good design is aesthetic
  4. Good design makes a product understandable
  5. Good design is unobtrusive
  6. Good design is honest
  7. Good design is long-lasting
  8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail
  9. Good design is environmentally friendly
  10. Good design is as little design as possible

This indeed seems still very true to me today. And it seems like Apple is mastering just about all of them. Maybe except environmentally friendly (non-replaceable batteries) and long-lasting (the new version of the product always makes the old one look dated, but the old one on its own is long-lasting nonetheless). More companies should invest more energy and time in “good design” instead of simply producing a lot of trash.