Fundamental Principles of UX

The best design decisions are those based on on user evidence. That means research and testing, the bread and butter of user experience design. However, limited as we are by time, budget and sanity, we can never have all the data we need. It means we designers are asked to make bold stabs in the dark, for which we rely on the safety of the principles that underlie good design.

We’re all familiar with the universal principles that guide user experience work, but do we truly understand them? What actually comprises a mental model? Would we know information scent when we smelled it? What do the gestalt principles mean for user experience designers? Can we really explain cognitive bias?

This workshop grabs the bull by the affordance, deconstructing the principles we take for granted to see how they can help our daily UX work. We’ll explore how they can be seen in action across all design disciplines, and learn how best to talk about them without sounding like ivory tower elitists.