Less but Better
Dieter Rams's phrase "Weniger, aber besser" is quoted so frequently in design contexts that it has become decoration. Designers place it on studio walls and in Instagram posts without examining what it means in practice. It does not mean minimal aesthetics. It means fewer decisions, each one better considered.
Fewer Elements
A brand identity that uses one typeface has made fewer decisions than one that uses three. Fewer does not mean insufficient. It means that the single typeface must be chosen with greater care, because it carries the entire typographic identity without support. The choice of Founders Grotesk for one project versus Sohne for another is not an aesthetic preference at this level. It is a structural decision about what the typography needs to do.
The same applies to color. A palette of two colors demands more precision than a palette of eight. Two colors must work in every combination, at every scale, in every context. Eight colors offer escape routes. When one combination fails, another can be substituted. Fewer colors means fewer escape routes and therefore better individual choices.
Better Execution
The second half of the phrase matters more than the first. Reduction without improvement in quality is just absence. A business card with nothing on it is not better than a business card with too much on it. Both fail. The card that succeeds has precisely what is needed, produced to the highest standard the budget allows.
In practice, "better" means spending more time on fewer deliverables. A brand system with six touchpoints, each perfectly executed, serves the client better than a system with twenty touchpoints produced at a standard the timeline allowed. The studio has declined projects where the scope-to-timeline ratio makes quality execution impossible. This is not principled. It is practical. Mediocre work costs more in the long term, because it needs to be redone.
The Application
Muji's product design demonstrates this principle at commercial scale. Each product uses fewer materials, fewer colors, and fewer decorative elements than its competitors. The reduction is not the point. The point is that every remaining element is considered. The transparency of a storage container is not accidental. The exact shade of brown in the kraft paper packaging is specified. The typeface on the label is selected, not defaulted.