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Good Design

As I practice it. Ten principles, after Dieter Rams, shaped by designing software since 2007, much of it for deeply technical users.

  1. Good DesignIs Deep, Not Broad.

    UX, product, business, and frontend held at once. The best decisions happen where they meet.

  2. Good DesignStarts With the Customer's Job.

    Not the feature request or the competitor's screenshot. The outcome people are hiring the product for.

  3. Good DesignRespects Expertise.

    Make experts faster, never explain their craft back to them. Density is fine. Condescension isn't.

  4. Good DesignMakes the Invisible Legible.

    Turn abstract systems into something you can see and act on, without hiding the truth underneath.

  5. Good DesignTreats History as Context.

    A snapshot shows what's happening. A history shows why.

  6. Good DesignIs Made, Not Described.

    Prototype in the real material. A working thing settles more debates than a deck.

  7. Good DesignSurvives the Next Rewrite.

    Durable over trendy. If the next rebuild throws it away, it was decoration.

  8. Good DesignIs Inclusive.

    If it only works for the people who made it, it doesn't work.

  9. Good DesignIs Slow Where It Matters.

    Sustainable pace over heroic sprints. Rushed work gets redone; considered work compounds.

  10. Good DesignRemoves a Setting Before Adding One.

    Fewer screens, settings, and words. Every option is a decision handed to someone else.