Universal Principles of UX

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Know the purpose.

In the 1970s German industrial designer Dieter Rams said, “Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.”

All digital products are tools and therefore have a purpose. If you’re an e-commerce marketplace, people want to buy something; if you’re a search engine, people want to search something; and if you’re a content platform, people want to read or learn something. When people use a digital product, they have a goal in mind, and they want to be able to achieve that goal as quickly as possible. If they can’t, the design has failed.

When we redesigned the website ...