dnieh/universal-principles-of-design.md

## universal-principles-of-design.md

      
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              universal-principles-of-design.md
            
          
    Universal Principles of Design [Quick Reference]

Cheat Sheet for the book by Lidwell, Holden, and Butler
80/20 Rule
Accessibility
Advance Organizer
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
Affordance
Alignment
Anthropomorphic Form
Archetypes
Area Alignment
Attractiveness Bias
80/20 Rule

80% of x involves 20% of y
Example

A toolbar that takes up little space but provides a bunch of functionality.
Accessibility

Environments should be accessible to as many users as possible without modification. There are 4 traits that indicate this:  perceptibility, operability, simplicity, and forgiveness.
Example

Web forms with placeholder text and aria attributes.
Advance Organizer

Instructional technique that explains new things using existing knowledge. Two types: expository and comparative.
Example

Tree chart do depict someone's ancestry (expository).
Aesthetic-Usability Effect

People like to use and prefer pretty things.
Example

Pretty things.
Affordance

Where physical characteristics of an object match/influence its function
Example

Plate on door meant to be pushed vs handle meant to be pulled.
Alignment

Placement of elements so that the edges line up along a line. Could also be a line through the vertical center.
Example

Any word document.
Anthropomorphic Form

A tendency to favor humanoid looking things.
Example

Pear shaped method soap dispenser.
Archetypes

Universal patterns derived from innate biases.
Example

Foreboding architecture surrounding nuclear disposal sites to warn future intelligence.
Area Alignment

Aligning elements based on the density of their area and not just their edges.
Example

Vertical silhouettes of people.
Attractiveness Bias

Tendecy to perceive attractive people as smarter, more moral, sociable, and competent.
Example

JFK vs Nixon.