Product design principles

What are product design principles?

Product design principles are guiding rules defining what is good product design for us and a decision-making tool for ambiguous situations. They let us not spend time on non-productive discussions. Once everyone agrees to principles we do not argue about them.

What informs product design principles?

• Vision and mission
• Team goals
• Team values (what is good design for us).

Where should principles be used?

Requirements & planning discussions, design feedback & reviews sessions, mainly when we have several versions of design and we want to choose.

1) Simplicity

We favor simplicity over excessive details. We want the users to focus on what matters the most. We don't want to overwhelm the users with excessive content. We break complex functionality down into small easy steps.

• Do more with less elements. Every element should serve its purpose. Don't add elements just for decoration or to fill space.

• Focus on core functions. The most common features should be easily accessible and obvious. Non-important features should be less prominent.

• Keep the user focused on the key task. Reduce clutter and distraction.

• Disclose information progressively. Arrange the actions and information into a sequence of steps in a gradual way. Divide information into smaller, manageable chunks.

2) Faster shipping over perfection

The faster we ship the product, the earlier we get feedback and validate our assumptions. Every iteration, every feature we ship is a small but coherent solution, and polished just enough to validate the idea behind it.

• Favor design decisions that would let us ship faster.

• Start with a small but coherent solution, get all the details perfect later.

• Don't optimise for the distant future.

3) Keep it visual

We prefer to visualise information rather than write a slab of plain text.

• Employ layout, icons, graphs, diagrams, gifs to explain complex concepts and processes.

• Use illustrations sparingly. Do not use images just for decoration.

• Be careful with visual metaphors not to misinform the users.

4) Structure information

The way information is presented affects if the user understands how the product works. We don't assume the user knows intuitively how the product works. We favor explicit explanations over intuitive learning.

• Structure information instead of showing all possible information. All data should be actionable or build confidence and trust in our product.

• Maintain visual hierarchy. Arrange the information based on importance.

• Expose precise data about blockchain instead of simplifying the data. Offer explicit explanations, be transparent about what's happening.

5) Standard over custom

We adopt established system components, familiar icons, standard text styles, gestures so that the product behaves the way the users expect.

• Maintain visual consistency across platforms to make it look and feel like it's still the same product.

• Same elements should look the same on all platforms so that the users don't have to learn anything new. Wherever possible, use system components instead of custom elements.

• Consider the context in which the users use their devices. Users hold the phone with one hand when they are on the go. Use established patterns to make one-handed usage easy.