Essentially, design principles are a set of overarching, agreed-upon, guidelines for product development within a company or design organisation. There is an inherent freedom in how design principles are stated but they often share projections on how future designs should tackle themes in the realm of user experience, 

Brand Identity

Brand Positioning

Their purpose is to guide your design choices along the entire process – from ideation to finished product. They help designers make choices on everything from functionalities, accessibility, and cost to form, and 

Product Identity and Colour Material Finish (CMF)

What are design principles?

Having principles that provide direction when creating new products helps ensure that the final designs contribute to a holistic and coherent user experience and bring out the purpose of the design. By anchoring the design to an overarching story, we ensure the product communicates what we want. As a bonus, it also provides a credible and authentic story we can use once marketing the product.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, design principles are an excellent way of setting boundaries. If you have well-designed principles, they help you narrow down the scope and ensure that you work focused on the right priorities.

Why do you need them?

Although it's entirely possible, creating 

 for an isolated product or service is often not very helpful. Instead, focus on developing a set of well-founded overarching principles that should guide all design work within a brand.

design principles

Brand values and strategy are worth nothing unless they’re put into practice. Creating and using design principles that support your brand’s strategy and values are the perfect opportunity to make them come to life for users and customers.

Always keep your users in mind – after all, they are the ones you’re developing, designing, and selling your product to. Hence, to create good design principles, you need to know your users – what drives and what is important to them. Then, feed that into your principles.

Formulate your principles specific enough to mean something – avoid being too fluffy and cliché by specifying what a principle means and doesn't mean. Have a clear rationale and intention behind the principles; but also keep them visionary and wide enough to ensure that they can also guide future design processes.

How do you create good design principles?

In a recent project, we helped TOMRA, global technology leader within recycling solutions, develop a set of principles to guide the design of their new generation reverse vending solutions. These principles set direction for the design choices for the concepts presented at EuroShop 2023, such as the recently released multi-feed machine, TOMRA R2, and the vertical backroom solution, TOMRA RollPac. Moreover, these principles aim to guide TOMRA in future design and product development to ensure that the entire product line is designed with a holistic and cohesive expression representing the TOMRA brand.

An example: the case of TOMRA

We created a set of five design principles derived from TOMRA ’s strategic vision: Premium, Inclusive, Sustainable, Amiable, and Efficient. Each principle defined by title, goal description, and intention. Also providing recommendation for form, interaction, and process, and are supported by visual example.

Let’s look closer at two of these principles:

The principles

The amiability principle aims to make technology more humane and approachable. This is exemplified in TOMRA R2 front unit with the soft expression of the form. Rounded corners and smooth surface transitions contribute to a warmer, friendlier expression, moving us away from cold, mechanical aesthetics. But it's not just about appearances - it also extends to interaction. Both the visual and written elements of the interface convey a warm, kind tone.

1. Amiability

The effectiveness principle is evident in the product architecture of TOMRA R2. Enabling all service and cleaning to be performed from the backroom significantly reduces staff time and effort otherwise spent walking back and forth. Furthermore, the implementation of a large sliding door on the main unit enhances access to the full machine's interior. Complemented by colour-guided elements, the design facilitates cleaning and maintenance activities, ensuring smooth operations.

Why you need design principles to guide your product development