Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design

Front Cover
Rockport Publishers, Jan 1, 2010 - Design - 272 pages

Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated is a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary encyclopedia covering 125 laws, guidelines, human biases, and general considerations important to successful design. Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, it pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the ideas applied in practice. From the 80/20 Rule to the Weakest Link, every major design concept is defined and illustrated.

Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit, a video game or a complex control system, the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines. Because no one can be an expert on everything, designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work—until now.

Just a few of the principles that will broaden your design knowledge, promote brainstorming, and help you check the quality of your work:

  • Baby-Face Bias
  • Expectation Effect
  • Golden Ration
  • Ockham's Razor
  • Proximity
  • Scaling Fallacy

The book is organized alphabetically so that principles can be easily and quickly referenced by name. For those interested in addressing a specific problem of design, the principles havealso been indexed by questions commonly confronting designers (How can I help people learn from my design? How can I enhance the usability of a design? How can I make better design decisions? ...).

Each principle is presented in a two-page format. The first page contains a succinct definition, a full description of the principle, examples of its use, and guidelines for use. Side notes are included, and provide elaborations and references. The second page contains visual examples and related graphics to support a deeper understanding of the principle.

This landmark reference is the standard for designers, engineers, architects, and students who seek to broaden and improve their design expertise.

 

Contents

Iteration
142
Law of Prägnanz
144
Layering
146
Legibility
148
Life Cycle
150
Mapping
152
Mental Model
154
Mimicry
156

Anthropomorphic Form
26
Archetypes
28
Area Alignment
30
Attractiveness Bias
32
BabyFace Bias
34
Biophilia Effect
36
Cathedral Effect
38
Chunking
40
Classical Conditioning
42
Closure
44
Cognitive Dissonance
46
Color
48
Common Fate
50
Comparison
52
Confirmation
54
Consistency
56
Constancy
58
Constraint
60
Contour Bias
62
Control
64
Convergence
66
CostBenefit
68
Defensible Space
70
Depth of Processing
72
Design by Commitee
74
Desire Line
76
Development Cycle
78
Entry Point
80
Errors
82
Expectation Effect
84
Exposure Effect
86
Faceism Ratio
88
Factor of Safety
90
Feedback Loop
92
Fibonacci Sequence
94
FigureGround Relationship
96
Fitts Law
98
Five Hat Racks
100
FlexibilityUsability Tradeoff
102
Forgiveness
104
Form Follows Function
106
Framing
108
FreezeFlightFightForfeit
110
Garbage InGarbage Out
112
Golden Ratio
114
Good Continuation
116
Gutenberg Diagram
118
Hicks Law
120
Hierarchy
122
Hierarchy of Needs
124
Highlighting
126
Horror Vacui
128
HunterNurturer Fixations
130
Iconic Representation
132
Immersion
134
Inattentional Blindness
136
Interference Effects
138
Inverted Pyramid
140
Mnemonic Device
158
Modularity
160
Most Advanced Yet Acceptable
162
Most Average Facial Appearance Effect
164
Normal Distribution
166
Not Invented Here
168
Nudge
170
Ockhams Razor
172
Operant Conditioning
174
Orientation Sensitivity
176
Performance Load
178
Performance Versus Preference
180
Personas
182
Picture Superiority Effect
184
Priming
186
Progressive Disclosure
188
Propositional Density
190
ProspectRefuge
192
Prototyping
194
Proximity
196
Readability
198
Recognition Over Recall
200
Red Effect
202
Redundancy
204
Rosetta Stone
206
Rule of Thirds
208
Satisficing
210
Savanna Preference
212
Scaling Fallacy
214
Scarcity
216
SelfSimilarity
218
Serial Position Effects
220
Shaping
222
SignaltoNoise Ratio
224
Similarity
226
Stickiness
228
Storytelling
230
Structural Forms
232
Symmetry
234
Threat Detection
236
ThreeDimensional Projection
238
TopDown Lighting Bias
240
Uncanny Valley
242
Uncertainty Principle
244
Uniform Connectedness
246
Veblen Effect
248
Visibility
250
Visuospacial Resonance
252
von Restorff Effect
254
WabiSabi
256
WaisttoHip Ratio
258
Wayfinding
260
Weakest Link
262
Credits
264
Acknowledgments
266
About the Authors
267
Index
268
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

William Lidwell is the Chief R&D Officer at Avenues: The World School, where he leads teams tasked with conducting research in education and the learning sciences; the development of new educational curricula, programming, and technologies; and the architecture and design of new campuses around the world. The co-author of Universal Principles of Design and The Pocket Universal Principles of Design, he has written other books in a variety of disciplines, including design, education, and management. His online lectures on the psychology of color are available at TheGreatCourses.com, and his online courses on the universal principles of design and logo design are available at LinkedInLearning.com. He lives in Houston, Texas.

Kritina Holden is a Human Factors Technical Fellow with Leidos at the NASA Johnson Space Center. She has over thirty years of experience working in the area of Human Factors, with a focus on human-computer interaction (HCI), human-centered design, and usability. She has served as Principal Investigator for several NASA-funded research efforts, including studies onboard the International Space Station. She is also a subject-matter expert for all of the major spaceflight programs. Tina received her Ph.D. in Engineering Psychology from Rice University. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Jill Butler is the founder and president of Stuff Creators Design, an interaction design consultancy. She has over twenty years of experience designing, teaching, and consulting in the areas of graphic design, information design, and typography. She has designed covers, layouts, and typography for more than a hundred published novels and children's books, and more websites than she can count. Her current focus is the UI/UX design of global online K-12 learning systems. Her online courses on the universal principles of design and typography are available at LinkedInLearning.com. She lives in Houston, Texas.

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