Design Principles
As my personal and professional design skills have grown over the years, I’ve collected a few principles that inspire me and guide choices big and small. I always strive to design things that are polished, efficient, and easy-to-learn, but beyond that I try to incorporate some of these qualities into everything I do.
✨ Magic
- Show people things they didn’t know were possible.
- Make it fun to figure out how something works.
- Impart feelings of awe and mystery.
🎛️ Instant Fun
- Every control should do something noticeable.
- A well-tuned interface is 10x more fun.
- Design tools to sustain flow states.
🐛 Whimsy
- Give it character. Say something.
- Have fun with it.
- Invite people to engage with the work.
🌎 Respect the Materials
- Make projects worth the materials used in the making.
- Design for disassembly, reuse, repair, and modification.
- Reduce waste when possible. Use the scraps.
✌️ Proudly Handcrafted
- Celebrate the aesthetics of home-made projects.
- Love in every stitch.
- Show the artist’s hand.
👯♀️ If I can do it, so can you
- Share my learnings, techniques, and tips.
- Learn from others — help each other shine.
- Take time to explain how something works and why it’s cool.