The power of design principles
Seven steers we use when crafting design principles
Designers love creating strategy– and often hate following it. This might be because strategy is communicated either too abstractly or in overly-concrete and granular ways. In the first case, the strategic intent is so vague that it can be interpreted in many conflicting ways. In the latter, guidelines and checklists can date quickly, be too restrictive and miss unforeseen situations. Designers then feel that their professional judgement and creative freedom are unwisely constrained.
Principles strike the right balance between arm-waving and rules. They give direction while leaving designers free to interpret them in particular contexts, rather than trying to legislate for every eventuality.
If a design vision paints the ‘why’, design principles articulate the design guardrails that outline the ‘how’. Principles are general design policies that make the vision tangible. Well-thought-out and communicated principles provide powerful tools to guide decision making and align teams around a common vision. Principles that are vague, poorly framed or merely repeat platitudes collect dust.
Design principles tend to be mindset, product, process or experience-oriented:
- Mindset: attitudinal stances designers should adopt (eg. ‘Make things open’)
- Product: positive characteristics you aim to achieve (eg. ‘Unobtrusive’)
- Process: how to design well (eg. ‘Understand context’)
- Experience: the user outcomes you aim to achieve (eg. ‘Effortless’)
Two great examples of design principles are Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles for Good Design and the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) Design Principles.
Here are seven steers we use when crafting design principles:
1. Universal
While some principles will be more relevant or useful in certain situations, they are generally best framed to be applicable across your product range. That said, they may focus on particular aspects of your portfolio, such as sustainability or inclusiveness.
2. Distinctive
Principles articulate your focus, priorities and values. They express your brand’s point of view on a particular subject, that is not widely held in the industry. Avoid ‘happy principles’, platitudes such as being inclusive or usable that few of your competitors would disagree with.
3. Clear
Principles aim to achieve clarity through the use of precise and straightforward language that avoids buzzwords. While different principles interact with each other in given situations, you should take care to minimise the number of overlaps between them.
4. Memorable
Principles are most effective if designers can recall them without needing to reach for guidelines. To this end, keep principle numbers to a minimum and use memorable maxims as titles.
5. Reasoned
Principles are more likely to be accepted and adopted if they are backed with a rationale, rather than simply asserted. Provide designers with back-up material for those who want to dig deeper into their background and logic.
6. Worldly
Principles are more credible if they recognise real-world challenges; for example, tensions to resolve and traps to avoid.
7. Actionable
Principles can be framed from different perspectives, such as user benefits (e.g. understandable), or values-orientated (e.g. honesty). In most cases, we prefer design principles to be action-orientated. A formula we often follow is an action-orientated title, followed by a sentence or two that begins with a point of view and concludes with a customer or business outcome.
Finally, avoid polishing your principles to perfection before exposing them to reality. Look for ways to test them first in friendly and low-risk situations. Actively invite feedback and discussion, to sharpen, strengthen and then scale them.
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