To help guide our work we’ve created a set principles to guide our design process.
Start with needs
Understanding needs is core to good design. Research, observe, interrogate data. Don’t assume. Build empathy. Design for people.
Context is key
Nothing exists in isolation, understanding the context it lives and operates in is critical. How are people interacting with it? What type of device? How much time do they have? how does this fit into the users workflow? Where does it live in the wider ecosystem?
“Don’t make me think”
As far as possible, your design should be obvious. Simple. Familiar. Intuitive. Good design should be invisible.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Learn from the past, use familiar patterns, embrace typical processes and mental models.
Accessible by everyone, everywhere
No user should be excluded on the basis of disability. Nor should they be excluded by their device type or connection.
Don’t break the rules, just test their elasticity
Rules are there for good reason. If you do need to bend them, do so knowingly. The more we explore and play the stronger the rules become.
Do the hard work to make it simple
Great design is not achieved when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Good design is invisible. You’ll need to make hard decisions and solve complex problems to achieve simplicity.
Design for reuse and modularity
If you’re facing a design challenge, chances are it will be faced again. Understand when things need to be the same, a variation, or something entirely different.
Test early, test often
Get your design into the wild as soon as possible. Get feedback, iterate, improve, repeat.