Rams, a Design Engineer for Your Coding Agent
A tutorial by rams.ai. Featured in the OTF curated resource library.
Who (and What) Is Rams?
Dieter Rams is the legendary industrial designer whose work at Braun defined what 'good design' means for the modern era. His ten principles of good design — good design is innovative, makes a product useful, is aesthetic, makes a product understandable, is unobtrusive, is honest, is long-lasting, is thorough, is environmentally friendly, involves as little design as possible — have influenced everything from Apple products to web interfaces.
Rams (the skill) translates these principles into actionable instructions for AI coding agents. It's an open-source skill file that teaches your agent to produce interfaces that embody Rams' philosophy: functional beauty, honesty in representation, and the minimum necessary design.
The result: AI-generated interfaces that feel intentional, restrained, and surprisingly elegant.
The Rams Design Principles
As Little Design as Possible
Remove everything that doesn't serve a purpose. No decorative gradients, no unnecessary borders, no visual noise. Every element earns its place through function.
Honest Interfaces
Don't make a button look like something it isn't. Disabled states should look disabled. Loading states should communicate progress. Error states should explain what happened.
Functional Beauty
Beauty emerges from good function, not decoration. Proper alignment, consistent spacing, and clear hierarchy create visual beauty without ornament.
Thorough Down to Details
Every pixel matters. Focus states, micro-interactions, empty states, and error handling are as important as the happy path. Nothing is left to chance.
Using the Rams Skill
Add Rams to your AI agent's skill set.
Download the skill file
Get the Rams skill from the open-source repository. It's a single markdown file that encodes Dieter Rams' principles as AI-readable instructions.
Add to your project
Place the file in your project's root or /skills directory. Reference it in your AGENTS.md: 'Follow the design principles in skills/rams.md for all UI work.'
Use in your prompts
When building UI, the agent automatically applies Rams' principles. You'll notice immediately: less decoration, more function, better spacing, and cleaner interfaces.
Rams in Practice
With the Rams skill active, your AI agent produces noticeably different output:
Buttons are simple, clearly labeled, and use size/weight to communicate hierarchy — not gratuitous gradients or shadows.
Cards have generous padding, clear content hierarchy, and minimal borders. Information is organized by importance, not decorated for visual interest.
Forms are single-column, logically ordered, with clear labels and helpful error messages. No unnecessary fields, no clever layouts that sacrifice usability.
Navigation is straightforward and consistent. The current location is always clear. Related items are grouped. Actions are labeled with verbs.
The Rams skill is especially effective paired with a minimal color palette — two or three colors maximum. This forces the agent to create hierarchy through typography and spacing rather than color variety.
