Lately, I needed to come up with some top level principles for the product I’m currently working on. I seek for some simple yet powerful concepts that will guide our team design decisions and break stalemates in discussions. For the first step, I decided to look around to see what others come up with. Through a miracle of time, I bring together this compilation, that should be useful for those who face the same challenge.

But first, I found that there are some misleading concepts what are design principles itself, so let me take a quick dive into the topic.

The range of principles

If you try to google “Design Principles” you most likely run into some basic rules of graphic design: proximity, balance, contrast, space, etc. Things that good designers usually familiar with, or, most likely, know inside out.

The next huge part is principles of a rational design process. It’s a set of concepts that makes you a true professional who’s able to provide an excellent design with great efficiency. Applying these principles to the whole team sets a bar of standards that new employees should match or reach in the short term. Let’s take a look at the GOV.UK Design Principles.

The list seems reasonable, but what I think is that such things are an industrial standard by now. Everybody design with data, and everybody tries to understands context. I believe that if you choose design principles for your team, you should pick some that are groundbreaking and challenge your team to go further.

Some teams put their principles online, and I regularly bump into some statements which sound like “be human” or “be communicative.” I hold a firm belief that such shit isn’t worth to be hanging on a wall unless your team is full of insensitive silent jerks and you want to change that fact. Why did you hire them in the first place?

So, what I was looking for, are product design principles. And the Gov.UK provides at least one:

This is for everyone

Accessible design is good design. Everything we build should be as inclusive, legible and readable as possible. If we have to sacrifice elegance — so be it. We’re building for needs, not audiences. We’re designing for the whole country, not just the ones who are used to using the web. The people who most need our services are often the people who find them hardest to use. Let’s think about those people from the start.

Design Principles of your product should tell you, your team and stakeholders which directions you should be going in the tough choices. They should focus on what distinct your product from others, how it feels and what is important for the business and your customers.

You are probably aware of the Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines or Google’s material design guidelines. Design principles behind these systems try to unify different products under the platform and bring the shared feeling to them.

If your product exists on various platforms, you should consider having a design system and some principles behind it, as well as the product design principles. You want to distance your product from others and unify the experience through different touchpoints, operating systems, and screens.

There goes the same problem: some teams put obvious design principles for their product: clarity, simplicity, usability — but you can’t create a good product without keeping such things in mind, and nowadays professionals stick with such principles by default.

Wrapping up

Principles of good design

a scope of rules that define a great design.

a scope of rules that define a great design. Principles for the design process

explains the way of work to create great products.

explains the way of work to create great products. Design principles for the products

how a product should feel, what emotions should it brings, what distinct it from the others.

how a product should feel, what emotions should it brings, what distinct it from the others. Design principle for the systems

unify your product experience in different circumstances.

Do you need design principles for your product?

Having strong principles doesn’t necessarily make your product strong at the end. Apparently, the great product requires great execution at all stages of creation, and design principles are just a small bit that guides your decisions and brings valid arguments in the disputes. They share the common vision and save time.

What are the good principles?

Simple

Have a real world examples

Guide design decisions

Reflect your brand

Collection

I gathered all principles that feel right to me. I don’t include basic design rules or process principles, but I added the Design Systems principles since they are overlapping with product design principles.

Cheers!

Here we go:

Unified

Each piece is part of a greater whole and should contribute positively to the system at scale. There should be no isolated features or outliers.

Universal

Airbnb is used around the world by a wide global community. Our products and visual language should be welcoming and accessible.

Iconic

We’re focused when it comes to both design and functionality. Our work should speak boldly and clearly to this focus.

Conversational

Our use of motion breathes life into our products, and allows us to communicate with users in easily understood ways.

Design as the “mutual friend”

Helping minimize uncertainties and setting expectations online, in the product, is an enabler for a meaningful experience offline, in the real world. We build products to let users get to know each other; we also learn what you’re looking for, and with that knowledge, we open the door to new experiences. We set the stage, help make the introduction, then get out of the way. And like a good friend, we’re there for you when you need us.

Design for first impressions

Although Airbnb requires some information from our users to book, we don’t require disclosure. That is, we ask guests to tell us who they are, but it’s up to them to tell us about themselves.

Trust takes effort

As with most things in life, you get out of Airbnb what you put into it. Trust on Airbnb is shared; it goes both ways. We’ve found the more effort a guest can signal to a host, the more trust a host is willing to give that guest.