10 Principles for a Good Lifestyle

These principles are pretty straightforward, especially principle #10. You’ll be surprised!

1. A good lifestyle is innovative

The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is constantly offering new starting points for sustainable design to enhance people’s well-being. But an innovative lifestyle is always created in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

2. A good lifestyle empowers people

We develop a lifestyle to be applied on a daily basis. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. A good lifestyle enables people to use their potential whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

3. A good lifestyle is beautiful

The aesthetic quality of a lifestyle is integral to its usefulness because a lifestyle that we pursue on a daily basis affects our environment and well-being. But only a well-executed lifestyle can be beautiful.

4. A good lifestyle makes values tangible

It clarifies the meaning of everyday life. Better still, it can make the values speak for themselves. At best, the possibilities to realize meaning reveal themselves.

5. A good lifestyle is unobtrusive

Lifestyles fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative displays nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the person’s self-expression.

6. A good lifestyle is honest

It does not make a person appear more innovative, efficient, creative than she really is. It does not attempt to manipulate humans by making promises that cannot be kept.

7. A good lifestyle is constant

It avoids current trends and is geared to our actual needs. Unlike short-lived fashion hypes, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

8. A good lifestyle is responsible down to the last detail

Nothing must be arbitrary or left to indifference. Awareness and mindfulness in shaping our life are ultimately an expression of respect for ourselves and others.

9. A good lifestyle is environmentally-friendly

Our lifestyle makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the areas it affects.

10. A good lifestyle is as little style as possible

Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and everyday life is not burdened with non-essentials.

Back to purity, back to simplicity.

 

 

Inspired by „10 Principles for good design“ by Dieter Rams.

© Dr. Nina Bürklin, 2023.