Creating Personal Design Principles

It’s a challenging moment in tech to say the least. One minute you might be in an organisation that you believe shares your values (or at least doesn’t fundamentally conflict with them), the next, it could have changed overnight.

The recent behaviour of the billionaire boys club to fall in line with the orange one, creating an immediate end to dedicated DEI and Accessibility work in both the US government and a growing list of big tech has created a new line in the sand.

Design Principles are not a new thing, a lot of organisations have them. When done right, they really do help guide people to make good decisions.

One thing I decided to do this week was to take a moment to record what I stand for and how I approach the work I do.

I’m going to use these as a way of explaining who I am as a designer and what drives me to make the decisions I do.

I hope to use my own Design Principles to compare against organisations I interact with, understand where they align and where they don’t.

My Design Principles are:

• Don’t waste peoples time
• Don’t leave people out
• Content first, always
• Know the cost of growth
• Be the voice of the user

What are yours?