Design principles

Start with the simplest solution

The best features are the ones that are easy to understand. Starting simple will maximize usability, speed up development, and make it easy to measure success.

Protect dev resources

Dev resources are finite and scarce. Don’t add unneeded features, styles, or flourishes that will disrupt implementation or waste time. Respect the design system and always attempt to reuse existing styles.

Conversion > usability > performance > aesthetics

Usability, performance and aesthetics help improve conversion, but they should not be goals unto themselves.

Prioritize projects with high return / effort ratio

Favor quick wins and easy implementations. Avoid difficult projects with questionable returns.

Prioritize problems that affect the majority

The most impactful improvements are those that address common problems and affect many people. We can’t fix every problem for every customer.

Ignore edge cases that affect few people

When designing new features, build for the masses and avoid working on edge cases that affect the few. Edge cases can be addressed once a feature is live and we get feedback from customers. 

Break large projects into phases

Keep implementations simple by designing in phases, starting with an MVP (minimum viable product). Ensure goals and objectives are clear for every major project or release.

Ensure a seamless handoff process

Implementation tasks should be clear, detailed, and understandable—even for developers who are not familiar with the project. Provide up-to-date mockups and prototypes showing all possible states. Provide assets to save developers time.

Apply familiarity

People develop a preference for things they are familiar with. Use design elements and interfaces that people already understand.

Stimulate delight

Creating a positive emotional response will make people remember us and come back. Design friendly, pleasing interfaces that aim to make people smile.

Avoid sizzle

Sizzle - Dazzle or excitement, as opposed to substance. 2 quotes on this topic:

Good design is as little design as possible - Less, but better -- because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

The second is about omitting needless words. It is important to omit needless design elements too. Avoiding sizzle does not require designs to be simple or boring, but every element should have purpose.

Avoid redesigns

Good design is long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years -- even in today's throwaway society.

Like most great websites our original design aesthetic changed minimally since our inception. We should avoid redesigning and, when designing new projects, we always aim for long lasting designs.

Avoid polishing frequently

Design with precision and attention to detail to avoid rough edges. Avoid perpetually polishing if it’s low impact.

Avoid modals

Modals break navigation and lack dedicated URLs. Favor full pages layouts instead.