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 left-hand page contains a succinct definition, a full description of the principle, examples of its use, and guidelines for use. Side notes appear to the right of the text, and provide elaborations and references. The right-hand 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.
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.
