Good design is simplicity - Deepstash
Product Management Essentials

Learn more about product with this collection

Essential product management skills

How to work effectively with cross-functional teams

How to identify and prioritize customer needs

Product Management Essentials

Discover 57 similar ideas in

It takes just

8 mins to read

Good design is simplicity

Most designers are familiar with Dieter Rams’ principle “Good design is as little design as possible.”

Quote “it’s plain and simple” is a common phrase, but what does that actually mean?

In fact, many designers strive to create things with a “simple” design or even ones that are seemingly “unadorned”. When designing a product, simple isn’t necessarily synonymous with plain, so what exactly is the difference between plain and simple?

31

165 reads

MORE IDEAS ON THIS

Establishing visual hierarchy with typography and colour psychology

Using more than two typefaces can make design in-cohesive and messy. Instead, add different weights (light, regular, bold) and sizes of the same font to make it more attractive.

Beyond that, play around with the layout, fill the negative space with text and images.

Accent colours are ...

27

78 reads

Good design is simple, not plain.

A simple design takes away unnecessary functions, including text, CTA’s, images etc. The user should still achieve their goals but not be bombarded by visual and written content.

The goal of design is to make it straightforward and engaging without making it dull.

30

137 reads

Being creative and adding life to the empty states

Illustrations and animations in empty areas can entirely enhance designs and make them much more enjoyable. We crave visuals, and hence animations are much more entertaining. These are great to make monotonous screens more interesting.

  • Telling your user about notifications? Add a bell ...

29

84 reads

Lightly coloured backgrounds can make everything pop

Using a lightly coloured background that complements your accent colours can make everything pop.

Understanding colour theory has its benefits. For instance, instead of using white as a background, using a light tint of orange can make your other accents of orange pop.

Using light tin...

25

78 reads

Less is more (especially with negative space)

Letting items breathe on a page is a must when designing minimalist designs.

Apple is an excellent example of the quote “less is more” and showcases that their design is the product itself, not the website. They have conf...

28

123 reads

Putting information in layers

Cognitive load is the amount of information our working memory can hold at any time. An overload of information can drive users away instead of drawing them in. Not everything has to be laid out on the landing page of a website; that is why menus exist. The information stays hidden unless and unt...

30

98 reads

Limiting the number of choices for the user

Choice can be overwhelming for everyone. As mentioned earlier, when speaking about cognitive load, the amount of information our working memory can hold is limited. 

29

90 reads

Plain and boring

Plain and boring

Plain has more connotations with negative feelings as it can sometimes indicate ‘boring’ while simple is positive as it is most often associated with minimalistic modern design.

Simple is about functionality and means that a product is easy to use, and sometimes “simple” can be much more e...

29

136 reads

CURATED FROM

CURATED BY

kary

Watercooler talks expert 🚰

Related collections

More like this

6. “How do I explain what I do at a party? The short version is that I say I humanize technology.”

6. “How do I explain what I do at a party? The short version is that I say I humanize technology.”

— Fred Beecher, Director of UX, The Nerdery

Here, Fred Beecher pretty much sums up UX design in a nutshell. It’s a common challenge that UX designers face: explaining to others exactly what they do, and attempting to convey just how crucial UX is to just about everything! This quote also r...

5 Brain myths debunked

5 Brain myths debunked

  1. We use only 10% of our brains. PET or fMRI scans show that much of the brain is engaged even during simple tasks. But there's also the fact that highly motivated people score higher on IQ tests, which suggests that we don’t always exercise our minds at 💯% capacity.
  2. ...

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates