1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,160 In addition to universal design principles, it's important for 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:09,080 companies to have design principles that are unique and specific to the company. 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:13,480 They serve as a guide for the brand, and they define the key characteristics 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,240 of a product to both users, and to those creating the product. 5 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:20,900 Having company design principles also provides a foundation for 6 00:00:20,900 --> 00:00:22,930 the company's design system, and 7 00:00:22,930 --> 00:00:26,620 having a consistent vision of the product across the entire organization. 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,250 It establishes the success criteria that each design project 9 00:00:31,250 --> 00:00:33,120 can be measured against. 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,540 Most importantly, it can help create a consistent and purposeful experience for 11 00:00:37,540 --> 00:00:38,140 users. 12 00:00:39,260 --> 00:00:41,030 Many companies have established and 13 00:00:41,030 --> 00:00:43,800 published design principles that are unique to them. 14 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:45,320 Let's look at some examples. 15 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,910 This website is a collection of design principles for 16 00:00:47,910 --> 00:00:49,990 many different companies and brands. 17 00:00:49,990 --> 00:00:54,140 For Airbnb, they have four design principles that are unique to them, and 18 00:00:54,140 --> 00:00:58,780 that they've created to be the foundation for their design language system. 19 00:00:58,780 --> 00:01:02,850 Facebook has seven design principles that reflect their beliefs and enables them 20 00:01:02,850 --> 00:01:06,820 to evaluate and decide whether something is Facebook or isn´t Facebook. 21 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,565 Although we won´t be creating design principles in this course, 22 00:01:11,565 --> 00:01:15,860 we'll go over some ways to develop company design principles. 23 00:01:15,860 --> 00:01:19,360 The first step of developing design principles is to reach out and 24 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:20,100 talk to people. 25 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,790 It's important that you really know and understand the company and product values, 26 00:01:25,790 --> 00:01:30,530 the brand personality, and the experience that users have with the company. 27 00:01:30,530 --> 00:01:33,350 You can start doing internal research by interviewing or 28 00:01:33,350 --> 00:01:37,940 hosting workshops with different people in your company, such as the leadership team, 29 00:01:37,940 --> 00:01:42,190 product managers, designers, engineers, customer support, 30 00:01:42,190 --> 00:01:47,430 etc., to gain an understanding of the business goals and brand attributes. 31 00:01:47,430 --> 00:01:49,410 In these workshops or conversations, 32 00:01:49,410 --> 00:01:54,690 some questions you might ask are, if our product was a person, it would be? 33 00:01:54,690 --> 00:01:57,640 If our product was a place, it would be? 34 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,680 What are some personality traits or characteristics for our product? 35 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,000 And what is the experience we want to create for our users? 36 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 The answers to these questions can give you a lot of insight into how people 37 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,950 within the organization view themselves and their product. 38 00:02:12,950 --> 00:02:16,590 Once you've gathered insights from your colleagues, you can also reach out and 39 00:02:16,590 --> 00:02:18,170 talk to your users. 40 00:02:18,170 --> 00:02:21,240 If you have a researcher on your team who can help you, you 41 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,300 can work with them to compile a list of current users and get their contact info. 42 00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:28,540 Creating a survey would be the easiest and 43 00:02:28,540 --> 00:02:31,270 fastest way to get a large number of responses. 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,700 Then you'll need to synthesize all the data by grouping and 45 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:37,530 finding common themes. 46 00:02:37,530 --> 00:02:42,630 This will take some time and collaboration with other designers and team members. 47 00:02:42,630 --> 00:02:44,670 Once you've identified common themes and 48 00:02:44,670 --> 00:02:48,590 trends, then you can start drafting the design principles. 49 00:02:48,590 --> 00:02:52,860 Here are a few tips to keep in mind when developing design principles. 50 00:02:52,860 --> 00:02:57,660 First, make sure that they align with the business goals and the user's goals. 51 00:02:57,660 --> 00:03:01,360 Secondly, keep it to about three to five principles. 52 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,480 They should be specific enough to be used for making design decisions. 53 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:07,730 They should be short and memorable. 54 00:03:07,730 --> 00:03:10,150 They should apply to the whole system. 55 00:03:10,150 --> 00:03:12,640 And they shouldn't conflict or overlap. 56 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:15,550 After you've developed a draft of the design principles, you 57 00:03:15,550 --> 00:03:19,510 should test it against the design team and engineers to see if they are effective and 58 00:03:19,510 --> 00:03:23,930 useful, and if they reflect the collective voice of the organization. 59 00:03:23,930 --> 00:03:27,070 Design principles can be used to provide the foundation for 60 00:03:27,070 --> 00:03:31,560 your company's design language or system, which is the overarching scheme or 61 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,490 style that guides the design of a product. 62 00:03:34,490 --> 00:03:39,640 Choices for color, typography, iconography, shapes, patterns, 63 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:45,160 grid layouts, animation, etc., must be derived from these principles. 64 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,750 Building a consistent design language system and 65 00:03:47,750 --> 00:03:52,530 a pattern library that looks and feels cohesive across all products, platforms, 66 00:03:52,530 --> 00:03:57,960 and communication is going to bring this cohesive experience to your users. 67 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:02,740 Design principles can also help designers make specific design decisions 68 00:04:02,740 --> 00:04:07,210 when working on a project, and even when critiquing each other's work. 69 00:04:07,210 --> 00:04:08,540 When you're designing a web or 70 00:04:08,540 --> 00:04:11,910 mobile interface, you should be thinking about the principles and 71 00:04:11,910 --> 00:04:16,630 asking questions about how you can apply them to your design solution. 72 00:04:16,630 --> 00:04:20,120 While we don't know Craigslist's design principles, let's say for 73 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,720 our design project that these are the design principles. 74 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:29,050 Discovery, create a seamless experience for users to discover posts. 75 00:04:29,050 --> 00:04:34,410 Basic and efficient, the design is always basic and efficient for the user. 76 00:04:34,410 --> 00:04:38,870 Simple and straightforward, browsing or posting an item should be simple and 77 00:04:38,870 --> 00:04:40,150 straightforward. 78 00:04:40,150 --> 00:04:44,570 Consistent, users should feel very familiar to Craigslist. 79 00:04:44,570 --> 00:04:46,300 Now that we have these principles, 80 00:04:46,300 --> 00:04:49,350 let's keep them in mind as we get started on our design project.