Practical Design Principles

WORKSHOP: Practical Design Principles Ben Brignell Design Consultant @benbrignell benbrignell.com

principles.design

187 1397 examples 161 creators principles

What are Design Principles?

Design Principles are a set of words or phrases written to help guide a team to reach an objective

Intrinsic play value Ingenuity Strong construction Good value for the money Action

Design Principles… …help us navigate towards a vision

Design Principles… …assist with decision making

Design Principles… …defend your rationale

Design Principles… …shift thinking toward goals not tasks

Design Principles… …break down complex concepts or ideas

Design Principles… …create a sense of “Why?”

Design Principles… …inform decisions, culture & process

Design Principles… …encourage collaboration

Design Principles… …promote innovation

Design Principles… …mean less meetings

Design Principles… …mean less management

3 Principles for Writing Design Principles

Concise Brief Simple Clear and to the point

Memorable Make them visible, put your principles on the wall Principles should be referred to in daily conversations Aim for 3-5 principles

Definitive What makes your product unique? How do you define what you want to do? How do you define who you are?

Concise Memorable Definitive

Why not use rules?

Rule: The website has to load in under 10 seconds Principle: Quick

Rule: The task needs to be completed in under 3 steps Principle: Focused

Rule: Everything needs to be accessible from the dashboard Principle: Pertinent

Concise Memorable Definitive

Workshop

Visit ben.bz/ideas

Create a product or idea

4 minutes Visit ben.bz/ideas Choose a type of product Think of a name for your product Pick somebody to introduce your product to the wider group

Write a mission statement 3 minutes • “We want to be the number one…” • “We are solving the problem of…” • “Our aim is to encourage healthy eating for…”

Discuss themes 5 minutes As a group discuss some of the design themes that surround your product and its users. • Who is your product for? • What challenges will your users face? • What problems are you trying to solve?

List principles 5 minutes On your own list as many words, phrases and short sentences that could • Try framing your themes as positive statements • List words • List short phrases • Write one thing per post-it

Group your principles 3 minutes Gather the principles together. Find common patterns. Arrange post its into groups. • Discuss as a team • Place similar principles in groups • Identify common patterns

Decide 3 minutes • Decide which principles best fit your mission and themes • Ideally you should aim for 3-5 principles • Concise. Memorable. Definitive. • Get ready to present your product and principles to the room

Present Time permitting One by one tell us: • Your product name • What your product does • What your mission statement is Then: • Read out your design principles and briefly explain why you chose them

Thank you! @benbrignell principles.design