Star Wars example: the Republic, Imperial, and First Order Star Destroyers. When the first Star Wars film came out in 1977, Darth Vader’s flagship, the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer called the Devastator, was the second ship audiences saw in the saga. The instant that ship drifted into the frame you could just tell it was evil. It belonged to the bad guys. With a hulking wedge-shaped hull and stark gray paint job, a Star Destroyer instantly instills a sense of terror, inferiority, and power in anybody who sees it. For The Force Awakens, Doug Chiang took the iconic and recognizable design of the Star Destroyer and updated it for the successors to the Empire, the First Order. With subtle changes, the new model is suited for the modern era while retaining the recognizability and emotions attached to the classic design.

4. Functionality: Can you easily tell how it works and what it’s supposed to do?

In terms of web and graphic design work, this one is closely tied to making complicated dashboards or web app interfaces. If there’s an opportunity to reduce the cognitive load on a user, this is the time to identify those chances and take advantage of them. Let’s say you’re creating an e-commerce site to sell those really cool t-shirts you’ve been designing. Your customer already has a pretty dang good idea of how to shop online, what an online cart looks like, and how the checkout process behaves, so design it to match those expectations!

R2 looks super cute snuggled up all cozy in the middle of the ship!

Star Wars example: the Syliure hyperdrive booster ring (alongside the Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor). The design of this thing is basically a big old ring with two engines on either side of a docking clamp. Just looking at the shape of it you can tell that the Delta-7 slots snugly into the central clamp. With the ring’s engines flanking the ship, along with the ring’s added support, you know at a glance that the hyperdrive ring is meant to make the Delta-7 speedier, or add some sort of extra engine boost.

5. Believability: Is the design mechanically plausible? Does it look as if it can work?

Dear Santa: For Christmas I want one of these. Or more. Like five, maybe?

This one might be a bit of a stretch, but hear me out. When it comes to the web, working within your limitations is crucial. You might have come up with the most refreshing, most innovative, groundbreaking, super duper design idea of all time. Then you show it to someone on your dev team and… Well… Your dreams are torn apart. The site doesn’t support a plugin you need, or a CMS doesn’t allow for your pages to be built the way you want them to be. These things suck, but they happen. If your designs aren’t technically plausible, if a dev says that it probably won’t work, you’re gonna have to readdress some things.

Star Wars example: the All Terrain Armoured Transports, more commonly called AT-ATs. Have you ever really taken some time and thought about these things? Like, take a really close look at them. I’m pretty sure that it’d be physically impossible for them to exist in reality. That’s okay though because at first glance they’re totally believable! When you first see the lumbering gray hulk crest the horizon in Empire Strikes Back, you feel as if the AT-AT is a real, solid object that could physically exist. Despite the ludicrousness of making a bigass tank and then sticking it on super long legs, the design feels right. It feels real. That’s pretty damn cool, in my eyes.

6. Cool Factor: Is the design unique and interesting to look at?

Don’t make boring things! ‘Nuff said! Why waste your audience or users’ time with unengaging content or drab UIs? You should be using all the tools at your disposal to inject at least a little bit of discovery, joy, or just plain coolness into everything you make.

Star Wars example: the Droideka from the Colicoid Creation Nest. Say what you want about the Star Wars prequels, but there’s no way that any sane, rational person can look at a Droideka (also known as a Destroyer Droid) and think it’s lame. Seriously. This thing is so freaking cool. It can roll around, unfurl, it’s got shields, AND IT SHOOTS LASERS OUT OF ITS HANDS. Just, like, whoah. Kinda nerding out here, sorry…