Universal Principles of Design 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design

William Lidwell, Jill Butler, Kritina Holden — 2003

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 workùuntil now. Universal Principles of Design is the first cross-disciplinary reference of design. Richly illustrated and easy to navigate, this book pairs clear explanations of the design concepts featured with visual examples of those concepts applied in practice. From the 80/20 rule to chunking, from baby-face bias to Ockham's razor, and from self-similarity to storytelling, 100 design concepts are defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge. This landmark reference will become the standard for designers, engineers, architects, and students who seek to broaden and improve their design expertise.

Reviews

Swastik@swastik

Nov 27, 2022

Brilliant book. Although you may know a lot of the concepts, you will probably find a few that you don't. It's an excellent refresher for a lot of design concepts. It's one of those books that you should read even if you're not specifically involved with Design. It's also a very easy book to go through. I loved its format; I thought it was just right for this kind of a book. A little more detail would have been nice, but once you are introduced to these concepts, you are also given additional links to learn more. I thought that was great. Overall, I loved this book.

Nelson Zagalo@nzagalo

Sep 3, 2022

The typical "list of important things" in the domain of Design. Most of them you'll have heard of, some others are real gems, and others irrelevant. Each topic gets one dedicated page, and each topic is restricted to itself, making the experience of reading, more like a skimming one. In the end this an attractive book not as useful, as it seems from the so many recommendations it gets.

Jesper Vestergaard@jespervega

Jul 28, 2021

Great overview of core principles of design and how human experience the world. Useful as background for digital design, but at the same time it feels like a deeper dive with a broader perspective and giving good insights on more general challenges with design.