/notes--universal-principles-of-design

1. Flexibility Tradoff

(From Universal Principles of Desgin)

As the flexibility of the desgin increases, the usability and the performance of the desgin decreases

  • Jack of all trades is master of none
  • You can desgin something flexible to perform many different functions, at less cost, and at greater level of performance then more specialized desgins
    • This is only true if and only if existing desgins are terribly inefficient

Explain: More flexible mean satisfing more conflicting requirements => which increases the compromises and complexity => which increases cost, degrades performance and usability

When these tradoff are valued:

  1. Is suboptimal good enough?
  2. Is the performance environment stable, meaning does it stay the same over time?
  3. Are performance and user requirements similar?
  4. Can functions be modularized in the design?
  5. Does the value of flexibility justify the performance tradeoffs?

2. Alignment

Things that are aligned are percived to be more related then the things that are not aligned

  • Things that are aligned lead the eye which influences the sequence in which people process the information
  • Every element in desgin should align with atleast one another
  • Disorder only to create emphasis or visual tension

3. Feature Creep

A continous expansion or addition of new product feature beyond the original scope

  • Most common cause of project overruns

  • Factors:

  1. Features are easy or convenient to add
  2. Features accumulates over multiple generation of product
  3. Features are added to appease the stakeholders

  • Key Driver => More is better belief

  • Adding features adds complexity and complexity costs

  • How to avoid:

  1. Always be on the lookout for adding new features during the desgin and development of the product.
  2. Ensure that the features are linked to customer needs and not added out of convenience or appeasement
  3. During iterations, ask what can be subtracted along with new additions
  4. Create a milestone to FREEZE the product specification.

4. Desire Lines (Desire Paths) r/desirepath

Traces of use or wear that indicate preferred methods of interaction

  • The road most travelled

  • Desginer centric desgin (where designer know the best way of thinking)

  • User centric desgin (deep understanding of how people will interace with a thing or product, and let that understanding guide and inform the desgin)

  • Desire Lines are noninvasive, unbaiseed and stastical measure of how people actually use a thing