What is the purpose of design principles?

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Using design principles, the starting points for a new product to be developed are determined. Design principles determine the context within which you design. They provide a clear framework in which the most important wishes and needs of users, organization and technology are recorded. This makes the desired user experience clear to everyone.

And that is important, because especially when developing a complex user experience – such as a website, intranet or app – it is nice to work from a clear framework. In short: a nice set of clear assessment criteria to test all choices and decisions during the project against. Handy! One of Google's design principles:

“Focus on the user and everything else will follow.”

What do you use design principles for?


To define and direct the project , indicate planning and priorities;
For team building : to get everyone on the same page;
To assess the value of (new) features and functionalities;
For a design review. Design principles are an ideal tool to test a design ;
To explain design choices and decisions to stakeholders;
Practical example
Enough reasons to be (hopefully) convinced of the use of design principles for a next project. But what do these design principles look like in concrete terms? What are the criteria for 'effective' design principles?

The design principles of Android provide a good saudi arabia phone data illustration of this:

Enchant Me: delight me in surprising ways, real objects are more fun than buttons and menus, let me make it mine, get to know me.
Simplify My Life: keep it brief, pictures are faster than words, decide for me but let me have the final say, only show what I need when I need it, I should always know where I Am, Never lose my stuff, If it looks the same, it should act the same, Only interrupt me if it's important.
Make Me Amazing: Give me tricks that work everywhere, It's not my fault, Sprinkle encouragement, Do the heavy lifting for me, Make important things fast.
Design principles of Android
Example of Android design principles. See all Android design principles.