Universal Principles of Design - readwise.io  ## Metadata - Author: **readwise.io** - Full Title: Universal Principles of Design - Category: #articles - URL: https://readwise.io/reader/document_raw_content/19014565 ## Highlights - The inverted pyramid refers to a method of information presentation in which critical information is presented first, and then additional elaborative information is presented in descending order of importance. In the pyramid metaphor, the broad base of the pyramid represents the least important information, while the tip of the pyramid represents the most important information. For example, in traditional scientific writing, a historical foundation (tip of the pyramid) is presented first, followed by arguments and evidence, and then a conclusion (base of the pyramid). To invert the pyramid is to present the important information first, and the background information last. The inverted pyramid has been a standard in journalism for over one hundred years, and has found wide use in instructional design, technical writing, and Internet publishing.1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdm6rt9q8928w3zwge07aq)) - Layering involves organizing information into related groupings and then presenting or making available only certain groupings at any one time. Layering is primarily used to manage complexity, but can also be used to reinforce relationships in information. There are two basic kinds of layering: two-dimensional and three-dimensional.1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdrmj7ykyxa0z3fa77a2sb)) - Turn a wheel, flip a switch, or push a button, and you expect some kind of effect. When the effect corresponds to expectation, the mapping is considered to be good or natural. When the effect does not correspond to expectation, the mapping is considered to be poor. For example, an electric window control on a car door can be oriented so that raising the control switch corresponds to raising the window, and lowering the control switch lowers the window. The relationship between the control and raising or lowering the window is obvious. Compare this to an orientation of the control switch on the surface of an armrest, such that the control motion is forward and backward. The relationship between the control and the raising and lowering of the window is no longer obvious; does pushing the control switch forward correspond to raising or lowering the window?2 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdrzyyabxjpbxhf4fyzs8r)) - Ockham’s razor asserts that simplicity is preferred to complexity in design. Many variations of the principle exist, each adapted to address the particulars of a field or domain of knowledge. A few examples include: • “Entities should not be multiplied without necessity.”—William of Ockham • “That is better and more valuable which requires fewer, other circumstances being equal.”—Robert Grosseteste • “Nature operates in the shortest way possible.”—Aristotle • “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.”—Isaac Newton • “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” —Albert Einstein ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdwbt795hv90xv5pajr77d)) - The design that seeks to accommodate everybody generally accommodates nobody well. For example, the percentage of visitors who actually buy products on an e-commerce website is typically quite small relative to the total number of visitors, but most website designs (and redesigns) fail to consider the differing needs of buyers versus browsers — that is, they design for the average visitor, an impersonal and homogenized construct derived from sources such as visitation statistics, surveys, and usability testing. It is better to understand and perfectly meet the needs of the critical few than to poorly meet the needs of many. It is this specific problem that personas seek to address.1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdxwzn015xzwykv12qz0kt)) - It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and it turns out that in most cases, this is true. Pictures are generally more easily recognized and recalled than words, although memory for pictures and words together is superior to memory for words alone or pictures alone. For example, instructional materials and technical manuals that present textual information accompanied by supporting pictures enable information recall that is better than that produced by either the text or pictures alone. The picture superiority effect is commonly used in instructional design, advertising, technical writing, and other design contexts requiring easy and accurate recall of information.2 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdy8pxzas8t5msae0p522e)) - People are better at recognizing things they have previously experienced than recalling those things from memory. It is easier to recognize things than recall them because recognition tasks provide memory cues that facilitate searching through memory. For example, it is easier to correctly answer a multiple-choice question than a short-answer question because multiple-choice questions provide a list of possible answers; the range of search possibilities is narrowed to just the list of options. Short answer questions provide no such memory cues, so the range of search possibilities is much greater.1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhdzhakdvrvvqg184yjywd1)) - At some point during the fourth century, all knowledge about ancient Egyptian scripts was lost, leaving no way to decipher extant hieroglyphics found on papyrus documents, stone tablets, and Egyptian monuments. Then in 1799, Napoleon’s army discovered an Egyptian artifact that contained writing in classical Greek and ancient Egyptian. This Rosetta stone, as it would become known, enabled scholars to use their extensive knowledge of Greek to comparatively translate the Egyptian texts, which turned out to be hieroglyphics and Demotic, a cursive form of hieroglyphic script. The Rosetta stone illustrates the power of embedding elements of common understanding in messages to ensure that their meaning can be unlocked by a receiver who may not understand the language of transmission. The principle has broad applications, ranging from the design of effective instruction (e.g., using familiarity with one concept to teach another) to the development of games and puzzles (e.g., crossword puzzles) to devising communications for extraterrestrial intelligences (e.g., plaques designed for the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space probes).1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhe08vmvad8btg051x55h5e)) - Much is made of the relative strength of small insects as compared to that of humans. For example, a leafcutter ant can carry about 50 times its weight; whereas an average human can only carry about half its weight. The standard reasoning goes that an ant scaled to the size of a human would retain this strength-weight advantage, giving a 200-pound ant the ability to lift 10,000 pounds. In actuality, however, an ant scaled to this size would only be able to lift about 50 pounds, assuming it could move at all. The effect of gravity at small scales is miniscule, but the effect increases dramatically with the size of an object. This underscores the basic lesson of the scaling fallacy—systems act differently at different scales. There are two basic kinds of scaling assumptions to avoid when growing or shrinking a design: load assumptions, and interaction assumptions.2 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhe1mkzmxfgv3r4vg0bj4cq)) - Storytelling is uniquely human. It is the original method of passing knowledge from one generation to the next, and remains one of the most compelling methods for richly communicating knowledge. Storytelling can be oral, as in the traditional telling of a tale; visual, as in an information graph or movie; or textual, as in a poem or novel. More recently, digital storytelling has emerged, which involves telling a story using digital media. This might take the form of a computerized slide show, a digital video, or educational software. A storyteller can be any instrument of information presentation that engages an audience to experience a set of events.1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhe41zd9bsbm20dxdmz0fqe)) - Symmetry has long been associated with beauty, and is a property found in virtually all forms in nature. It can be seen in the human body (e.g., two eyes, two ears, two arms and legs), as well as in animals and plants. Symmetry in natural forms is largely a function of the influence of gravity, and the kind of averaging of form that occurs from merging genetic information in reproduction. There are three basic types of symmetry: reflection, rotation, and translation.1 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jfhe4hccca5jzbmjf62j9mr5))