Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design

This initial impression of a system or environment greatly influences subsequent perceptions and attitudes, which then affects the quality of subsequent interactions.

The advent of the graphical user interface allowed users to browse sets of commands in menus, rather than recalling them from memory. This reduction in cognitive load dramatically reduced the mental effort required to use computers, and consequently enabled them to become mass-market devices.

Elements in a design should be aligned with one or more other elements. This creates a sense of unity and cohesion, which contributes to the design’s overall aesthetic and perceived stability.

process of repeating a set of operations until a specific result is achieved.

For example, new design features or elements that excite designers are often never used or even noticed by people who interact with the design. In many cases, such features and elements increase the design’s interaction costs by adding complexity to the system.

Similarly, people can locate an angry face in a group of happy or sad faces more quickly than a happy or sad face in a group of angry faces. The ability to detect evolutionarily threatening stimuli is a function of perceptual processes that automatically scan the visual field below the level of conscious awareness. Unlike conscious processing, whic

Entry points should allow people to become oriented and clearly survey available options. Points of prospect include store entrances that provide a clear view of store layout and aisle signs, or Internet pages that provide good orientation cues and navigation options. Points of prospect should provide sufficient time and space for a person to revie

Hawthorne Effect—Employees are more productive based on their belief that changes made to the environment will increase productivity. Pygmalion Effect—Students perform better or worse based on the expectations of their teacher. Placebo Effect—Patients experience treatment effects based on their belief that a treatment will work. Rosenthal Effect—Te

impressions, contexts, and antecedent events are all opportunities to influence subsequent reactions and behaviors — this includes the way products are presented in packaging, the articles adjacent to advertisements in newspapers, and the experiences leading from the parking lot to the entryway of a retail store. Favor indirect primes over direct p