When an object of design is long lasting, it has
two concurrent effects: first, we gain a respect
for its stability and persistence. It becomes like
an old friend, something we can count on. A
sturdy chair, a comfortable knife, a well-bound
book – all impress upon us a lasting sense of
security – a pleasant stubbornness – in the face
of the ever-ticking clock.

Second, when we spend time with an object, it
takes on the mark of use and so becomes evi-
dence of our existence. The wear on the chair’s
arm where your elbow rests, the nick in the
knife’s blade from when you tried to butcher a
leg of lamb, the phone number of your future
lover hastily scrawled in the back of the book.
By these means, a good design grants a bit of
immortality with every use.

This, I think, is at the heart of Ram’s statement
that good design is long lasting. When we think
of objects that last a ‘long time,’ we think of
those that we inherit from our grandparents,
or those that we hope one day to pass on to
our children’s children. In other words, long-
lasting design is design that lives past the end
of our own lives, a gift at the edge of an
imagined future.

But what of pixels, or bits and bytes? If I died
tomorrow, I can confidently assume that the
books on my shelves will last a hundred years.
But the files on my laptop – where I’m typing
these words right now – won’t survive more
than a year or two. The words I’ve blogged not
much longer than that; the drives they live on
will fail, or else the space I’m no longer paying
for will be filled by someone else.

Does this mean they are inferior? Perhaps. But,
perhaps instead long lasting can now be mea-
sured not only in years, but in minds – not in
how long an object persists, but in how many
people it changes. A book that is read by mil-
lions but vanishes in the span of a decade does
more good than one that sits untouched for
millennia. Speaking of the destruction of the
Library at Alexandria, Borges said, “If a book
is lost, then someone will write it again, even-
tually. That should be enough immortality for
everyone.” Meaning, nothing lasts forever, but
some things last long enough.

Mandy Brown wrote on Rams’ seventh principle, Good design is long-lasting. Ms Brown is the Creative Director at Etsy, Contributing Editor for A List Apart, and Editor and Co-Founder of the new small press A Book Apart. She writes about books and the reading experience at A Working Library. Ward Jenkins created the above illustration based on Ms Brown’s essay. Mr Jenkins is a Portland-based animator and illustrator. He recently illustrated the hardcover children’s book, How to Train with a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, written by Michael Phelps and Alan Abrahamson.