4 design principles

4 design principles I use every day to avoid bad UX and create products that work for everyone by Adam Silver. I like them very much. Adam´s examples not only bring you a step further in understanding the principles, but maybe give you the next action item to improve your current design work.

1. Good design works for everyone. Examples: Plain language isn’t just easier to read for people with low literacy; experts find it easier to read too. Large radio buttons don’t just help people with motor impairments; everyone finds them easier to click.
2. Good design makes things obvious. Examples: Instead of using a hamburger menu, just show the navigation items and let them wrap if necessary. Instead of hiding hint text in tooltips, just show the hint inline.
3. Good design puts users in control. Examples: Instead of expecting users to fill out a form in one go, expect them to get interrupted and let them save and finish later. Instead of showing a menu on hover, show it on click.
4. Good design is lightweight. Examples: Kill the background video and prioritise the content and flow. Kill those tooltips and reduce the content to its irreducible core.