Rams argues that good design depends on deliberate reduction. A product should contain what is necessary for its purpose while avoiding features, decoration or visual elements that do not contribute meaningfully to its use. Simplicity, in this view, is not an absence of design but the result of careful decisions about what should remain.

The phrase “less, but better” expresses a preference for clarity, usefulness and restraint over unnecessary complexity. By concentrating on essential aspects, a designer can make a product easier to understand and allow its function to remain prominent. Rams’s reference to “purity” and “simplicity” therefore describes both an aesthetic approach and a practical method of product development.

The quotation reflects a wider principle in Rams’s work: design should not call attention to itself through excess, but should support the purpose, usability and coherence of the object being designed.