Less but Better sets out Dieter Rams’s approach to industrial design through reflections on the ideas, criteria and working methods behind his products. Rather than presenting a complete history of Rams’s career or of Braun, the book examines how changing manufacturing and consumer culture shaped his thinking about what design should achieve.

Central to the book are Rams’s ten principles of good design. These emphasise innovation, usefulness, aesthetic quality, clarity, restraint, honesty, durability, attention to detail, environmental responsibility and reducing design to what is essential. Rams argues that products should serve their users without unnecessary decoration or exaggerated claims.

The book also considers design as an ethical and social practice rather than simply a matter of appearance. Through examples from Rams’s work, it presents “less, but better” as an approach based on careful reduction, long-term usefulness and responsible use of resources.