a practical guide to Timeless Product Design (How to)

There's something magical about the timeless aesthetic, but it's really hard to design a timeless product. So I made a practical guide on how to design timeless products. I go over how to create timeless forms, details and finishes while designing a nice little coffee grinder.

Software: Mood Boards in Miro. Coffee Grinder modelled in Rhinoceros & Fusion 360 & Rendered in Keyshot.

Thanks to all the great designers who let me feature their work:
Shaver, T3, SK5, TP1, LE1, Sessel 620 by Dieter Rams
Olly, Elixir by Bebop @bebopdesigners
Wall Mounted CD Player, Electric Kettle, Toaster, Blender by Naoto Fukusawa
Angle Razor, Toy Projects, Brush and Bowl by Morrama @morramadesign
Barcelona Chair, Cantilever by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
DSW, Lounge Chair by Charles & Ray Eames
Watch by Junghans
Watch by Nomos Glashutte
A1 by Cecilie Manz
A9 by Øivind Alexander Slaatto
Beosound 1 by Torsten Valeur
Chair One by Konstantin Grcic
Go Chair by Ross Lovegrove
Lockheed Lounge by Marc Newson
Medallion Chair by Phillippe Starck

Isn't it kind of ironic that I am wearing a trendy shirt for a timeless design video?

[PhiSei]

Great video! Your breakdown was great!
Only thing I have a problem with is the size of the knob. It‘s so small, making the grinder look enormous.
Doesn‘t change anything about the validity of your approach and would be catched latest with a foam model :)

[baddylou]

love the new vid, would love to see a breakdown of the applications you use on your ipad, and why you choose to use them. But loved this video.

[katharinalang]

Love the wavy lid - sliding through time no problem!

[yemmaldn]

Amazing! Thanks for reminding me why I wanted to became an industrial designer. Looking forward for the next video...

[DanielHernandez-qggm]

Thanks for your videos, I appreciate so much your process of design and not the boring techniques that teach in the college. LOVE IT, THE RESULTS!! Greetings from México

[leowu]

That coffee grinder turned out freaking gorgeous 👍

[Designotherwise]

I love your videos ! You get through so much information and knowledge while keeping it light and having such a clear main objective from start to finish !
Very cool ! Excited to see more in the future

[ellesaux]

I don't usually comment, but it was super useful, clear and concise! thank u !

[All-VentionDesignNT]

Great, found another quality design channel.

[kvdesign]

Nice elaboration on timeless design 👌 cheers

[kvdesign]

Hunting for timeless features with flow

[oldcountrypancake]

Love this channel! Just binged and liked all videos.

Your approach to breaking down layers (e.g., forms, details, finishes) is insightful and easy for non-practitioners to follow.

I'd gladly pay for a video diving deeper into industrial design with your unique style of delivery (structured layers, fusing in trends and on-the-fly designs.)

Keep the videos coming and thanks for making them!

[PeiyaWang]

Love your video so much!! Both knowledge and humor!🙌🙌

[simonevascotto]

awesome video. cant wait to see more :)

[sayanee]

Thank you for this informative video! Do you have any product design book recommendations that will dive into designing timeless products with form, details, and finishes? Loved your breakdown of this topic!

[danijelkurincic]

Great stuff!
It this makes me think: timeless designs are well designed and good products.

It is worth to note that no product is going to be timeless if technology change, society or economics make it obsolete. Or if it is just a product with a poor quality. Or if it is not marketed well. Or ... so many other reasons than design.

Also, from this video, it is clear that timeless also means that it is not tied to a specific epoch, trend, it is trendless. Not so punchy or relevant maybe not so interesting for could be even boring? This might be a good thing for some products, but not for others.

So actually, timeless design is rather not a design decision, but a product decision.

[jingwenchen]

Enjoyed each of your videos a LOT. But! Can you update more often!!! plz！！

[nicolaiid]

Great video man! I really liked your explanation and take on the topic :D
It also got me thinking if there if some of those beloved, way less minimal designs are also timeless in a way. Most things by Alessie for example can definetly be dated, but it's their character and that they function well despite some stylization that makes people love them throughout time. Super interesting topic, I'm looking forward to your next video :D

[fxarts]

Great video! have some personal thoughts on this matter ngl
tbh i feel like timeless design is a lie. i feel like great "timeless designs" are just very well aged designs that don't cling to any era of design.

what I mean by that is that they try to avoid trends and crazy overdesigned features and incorporate stables of design that will always exist.
so something like natural wood texture, contrast, mainly primitive shapes.
design features that are well established because of manufacturing methods I would also put on this list. make it seem possible that a human has built it for other humans. i would count visible screws, round holes, vents and bent materials into this category. almost some industrial elements.

So in my opinion critique on your design would be its too complex and overdesigned for it to look timeless. doesn't look like its manufactured by humans bc of the curved and into each other flowing glass top with the wave pattern.
making the vents so small feel like you want to hide it. so why even design it in the first place. the too small knob also just doesn't feel like its designed for humans.


i always try to imagine what a Dieter Rams product would feel like in a normal persons home. without all the other fancy minimal interior design. a messy room maybe. and I think it would still work.
while clean and minimalistic they clearly present what they are with materials and forms that already exist everywhere else.

Thats my big critique on many home appliance minimalistic, "timeless" designs nowadays. they just don't fit in if ur home isn't designed by a interior designer. Many products seem to be designed in a vacuum to be only viewed against a white background. while cool on their own they try to design around what they actually are.
in a messy room it just looks out of place. And I think true timeless designs will fit almost anywhere.

[JIEON.C]

Quick and simple tutorial, perfect! Just one thing, can’t really tell the scale of this grinder, but if it’s like most grinders, isn’t knob little small? If it’s just a button, would be fine but for a rotary knob, seems bit small.