MethodsDesign principles
What
Written statements, generally in the form of imperatives like “Earn people’s trust,” that serve as guiding lights during decision-making.
Why
To give the team and the stakeholders a shared point of reference when negotiating next steps. Good design principles are specific to the project, not general truths, and should help teams say “no” to otherwise interesting proposals or generate ideas when they’re stuck.
How to do it
- Using internal documents and kickoff activities, gather terms or concepts that seem significant to project goals and organizational culture.
- Using existing research, list terms or concepts that seem particularly important to customers or user groups.
- Cluster similar terms and concepts together on a whiteboard or other writing space open to everyone in the project. Name the clusters.
- Ask the team and stakeholders if they would like to add, change, or edit any concepts or groups.
- From the groups on the board, create three to five final principles. Using evidence from partner or user research, write one to two sentences in support of each principle.
- Share the principles in a place accessible to the team throughout the project, and refer to them often while making decisions.
Example from 18F
- 18F Design Principles Guide
- “Making more consistent decisions with design principles: A new 18F guide” Elizabeth Goodman and Brad Nunnally.
Additional resources
- “Design Principles: Dominance, Focal Points And Hierarchy.” Steven Bradley.
Considerations for use in government
No PRA implications. Generally, no information is collected from members of the public. Even when stakeholders are members of the public, the PRA explicitly exempts direct observation and non-standardized conversation (e.g., not a survey), 5 CFR 1320.3(h)3. See the methods for Recruiting and Privacy for more tips on taking input from the public.