Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design
- Downloads：7566
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-26 11:55:39
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：William Lidwell
- ISBN：1592535879
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Whether a marketing campaign or a museum exhibit， a video game or a complex control system， the design we see is the culmination of many concepts and practices brought together from a variety of disciplines。 Because no one can be an expert on everything， designers have always had to scramble to find the information and know-how required to make a design work—until now。 Universal Principles of Design， Revised and Updated is a comprehensive， cross-disciplinary encyclopedia of design。 Richly illustrated and easy to navigate， it pairs clear explanations of every design concept with visual examples of the concepts applied in practice。 From the "80/20” rule to chunking， from baby-face bias to Occam's razor， and from self-similarity to storytelling， every major design concept is defined and illustrated for readers to expand their knowledge。 This landmark reference will become the standard for designers， engineers， architects， and students who seek to broaden and improve their design expertise。
Reviews
Joan Leung
，
Weekend Reading: Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell， Jill Butler， Kritina HoldenOne of the most useful #design books I have ever read。 I learned *so* much fun things from this book。 It gave names to things I had "felt" before about design， taught me a bunch of new things， and reinforced the little I already knew about design。My favorite principles of design: Accessibility， Archetypes， CostBenefits， Expectation Effects， Feedback Loop， Flow， Framing， Gamification， KISS， Plunge。I lea Weekend Reading: Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell， Jill Butler， Kritina HoldenOne of the most useful #design books I have ever read。 I learned *so* much fun things from this book。 It gave names to things I had "felt" before about design， taught me a bunch of new things， and reinforced the little I already knew about design。My favorite principles of design: Accessibility， Archetypes， CostBenefits， Expectation Effects， Feedback Loop， Flow， Framing， Gamification， KISS， Plunge。I learned something new: Attractiveness Bias， Cathedral Effect， Closure， Fitts'Law， Gloss Bias， Hunter-nurturer Bias， Mafa Effect， Orientation sensitivity， Rosetta Stone， Rules of Thirds， Savanna Preference。Highly recommended。 。。。more
Trevin
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Even as an experienced designer， it's wonderful to have a reference book that has so much breadth。 I appreciated how each topic includes top sources so that I could pursue it more deeply if I chose to。 The danger with any reference book， however， is that when you abstract and summarize complex topics， you inevitably lose some nuance， and at worst you actually present actively misleading information。 This entire book is written with a strong authoritative voice， and it shouldn't be。 During my car Even as an experienced designer， it's wonderful to have a reference book that has so much breadth。 I appreciated how each topic includes top sources so that I could pursue it more deeply if I chose to。 The danger with any reference book， however， is that when you abstract and summarize complex topics， you inevitably lose some nuance， and at worst you actually present actively misleading information。 This entire book is written with a strong authoritative voice， and it shouldn't be。 During my career I've found some of these principles to be far less universal than this book presents them to be， and where the book most overlapped with my specific areas of expertise， I found the book to occasionally be actively incorrect。 This made me wonder how often this book is actively incorrect when discussing topics I'm not expert enough in to notice either way。 I would have found this book easier to recommend to others if it spent a little more time acknowledging when principles don't work， instead of presenting them all as universal。 （ Though that would require a new title， I suppose。） Still， so long as the drawbacks inherent in a book of very surface level discussions of a broad range of topics are kept in mind， I think this is still a very useful book to have on hand。 。。。more
yshuan
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Very eye-opening read！
Minh Ngoc Pham
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A good reference if you are interested in the intersection of design， psychology， theory of evolution， human bias， why things look certain way。 I love that it points me to the seminal work on each topic for deeper immersion。 Also the writing indicates that the authors were having fun writing this， not like trying to complete a dictionary， which I always appreciate。
Pritimay
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The author gives a short description and then discusses about that topic。 Liked the style。 He talks about lot of ways， although most of them seem trivial。 I liked one in particular， "People understand and interact with systems and environments based on mental representations developed from experience。" The author gives a short description and then discusses about that topic。 Liked the style。 He talks about lot of ways， although most of them seem trivial。 I liked one in particular， "People understand and interact with systems and environments based on mental representations developed from experience。" 。。。more
Nohemi Fernandez
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Good UX reference book
Sananab
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This was a good book and I'm glad I read it。 That being said， the title is completely over the top。 Many of these are definitely not universal; some are speculative pop-psych at best and a small number already look like relics of the specific time this book was written。 Others are universal through extreme generality （the math equivalent would be a book saying "one plus one definitely equals something"）。 A few are， debatably， not even principles。 This was a good book and I'm glad I read it。 That being said， the title is completely over the top。 Many of these are definitely not universal; some are speculative pop-psych at best and a small number already look like relics of the specific time this book was written。 Others are universal through extreme generality （the math equivalent would be a book saying "one plus one definitely equals something"）。 A few are， debatably， not even principles。 。。。more
Radu Mureșan
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Yeah， thanks for the repetition and "mind-blowing" principles that even my 11 year old cousin would know。。。 Yeah， thanks for the repetition and "mind-blowing" principles that even my 11 year old cousin would know。。。 。。。more
Morgan
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helpful for a n00b like me :~）
Phillip Fernberg
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A super clean reference book loaded with useful cross-disciplinary design concepts。 My main problems with it are （1） that it’s such a vast subject that you either have to really really simplify it or really really expand it to make it a compelling work and （2） it has the potential to become irrelevant really fast without being updated on at least a decade basis。 Really great for quick lookups of terms you’ve probably heard as a designer but might not have context for。
Emilia
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A good book for people that want to learn more about design。 If you are a beginner this one could be helpful。 Universal principles of design includes different concepts and backs up the information with statistic and examples。There are things that could be described as “common knowledge” （like baby faced bias or the preference for symmetry in design）， but for me it was still useful to read how can I apply this to a project。It took me a while to finish this one because I was taking notes of almos A good book for people that want to learn more about design。 If you are a beginner this one could be helpful。 Universal principles of design includes different concepts and backs up the information with statistic and examples。There are things that could be described as “common knowledge” （like baby faced bias or the preference for symmetry in design）， but for me it was still useful to read how can I apply this to a project。It took me a while to finish this one because I was taking notes of almost everything。 It was a useful book for me。 。。。more
Lars
，
Solid content but tedious to readI struggled through this book。 Not because the content was bad， I just found it pretty boring which is probably due to the format。 A lot of the principles do not apply solely to design （e。g。 80/20 rule）， but there are some interesting tidbits in there。
Tran
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The book is like a dictionary of design principles， sorted from A-Z。 The footnotes are extremely useful when we wish to learn more about a certain experiment or example。 Because of the wide range of application， not only arts， design， architecture but also business and education， I'd like to research further into some principles that I usually encounter in daily work， e。g。， way-finding。 The book is like a dictionary of design principles， sorted from A-Z。 The footnotes are extremely useful when we wish to learn more about a certain experiment or example。 Because of the wide range of application， not only arts， design， architecture but also business and education， I'd like to research further into some principles that I usually encounter in daily work， e。g。， way-finding。 。。。more
Assem Malika
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A book to keep aside， all the time
Nurlan Imangaliyev
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One of the best books I've read this year。 Now made it my one of my coffee-table books。 One of the best books I've read this year。 Now made it my one of my coffee-table books。 。。。more
Natalie
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Riffyn rec from Jan
Ernst Schneider
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This volume is an wonderful and invaluable overview of so many interesting design concepts。 Everyone interested in any kind of design should have this in their library。
Roxanna López
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4。5 stars。 This book is full of fascinating and useful information。 I only found one example that was not well explained and one huge misinterpretation of evolutionary theory which detracted from the quality of the book。 Otherwise， I highly recommend it。
Tony Sebastian
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A reference book for basic design principles。
Martin Rigby
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We use this book at UVU and it’s definitely a book I wish I had in college。 I do think it could have better examples and be a bit more complete。 I still consider it a must-read for designers。
Samuel Oktavianus
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Universal Principles of Design is a reference book containing hundreds of design principles—from psychological biases to visual theory—presented in alphabetical order。 Since this is a reference book， you can navigate to your preferred section easily。 Every section/principles have real-life examples， useful tips & gorgeous illustration （although it's a little dated since the book is published back in 2003）。On the contrary， I believe that most of the "principles" in the book are superficial for ex Universal Principles of Design is a reference book containing hundreds of design principles—from psychological biases to visual theory—presented in alphabetical order。 Since this is a reference book， you can navigate to your preferred section easily。 Every section/principles have real-life examples， useful tips & gorgeous illustration （although it's a little dated since the book is published back in 2003）。On the contrary， I believe that most of the "principles" in the book are superficial for experienced designers， including myself （example: Rule of Thirds， Golden Ratio）。 Sure， there are interesting psychological biases that I've never read before， but the writing feels as if it was copy-pasted from a Wikipedia entry。 I know this is a design reference book but god it's too dull。In conclusion， Universal Principles of Design is for anyone looking for an accessible design reference book in less than 250 pages long。 The content is a little outdated。 Experienced designers might find this a little dull， but beginner designers might find this rewarding。 。。。more
Rhonda
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As soon as I started reading this， I knew this would be the ideal book for design classes。 Its principles are applicable to all aspects of design。
Kerri Grier
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Incredibly informative reference material on design principles。 I really liked how each principle was laid out。 The table of contents were also laid out in multiple ways depending on how you wanted to use the book which was a thoughtful touch。 Some of the images were pretty dated though - it'd be nice if they came out with a revised/updated edition！ Incredibly informative reference material on design principles。 I really liked how each principle was laid out。 The table of contents were also laid out in multiple ways depending on how you wanted to use the book which was a thoughtful touch。 Some of the images were pretty dated though - it'd be nice if they came out with a revised/updated edition！ 。。。more
Trung Đỗ
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great
Nicolas Lacombe
，
it repeats itself a lot but seems to contain a lot of very valuable information
Bear Paw
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An excellent quick reference guide。
Philippe Fanaro
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Amazing book。 A must-read for anyone。I've written an in-depth review of it here: http://fanaro。com。br/universal-princi。。。 Amazing book。 A must-read for anyone。I've written an in-depth review of it here: http://fanaro。com。br/universal-princi。。。 。。。more
VannTile
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One in a long series of design dictionaries， UPD is a well-crafted collection and， as a print， really exciting do own and read。
Jean Bitežnik
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Great book for designers of all trades。The book is structured in alphabetical order， each chapter explains one principle and gives an explanation + a （well） known example for each design principle。 The one tip I would have if you're a designer is not to read it page to page （as I did） but go through parts that interest you or that are relevant to your current project so you can absorb information better。 I took the time to read it and tried to think of my own examples for each principle and wher Great book for designers of all trades。The book is structured in alphabetical order， each chapter explains one principle and gives an explanation + a （well） known example for each design principle。 The one tip I would have if you're a designer is not to read it page to page （as I did） but go through parts that interest you or that are relevant to your current project so you can absorb information better。 I took the time to read it and tried to think of my own examples for each principle and where these principles apply in real life。Overall it's a great book with relevant information just take your time to think about the principles and how they apply to your work。 。。。more
Mandy
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