Universal Principles of Design

The book Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler is a concise guide into various rules that guide aesthetics and design. Each page references a different principle, some common, such as "highlighting," to more obscure ("The Law of Pragnanz"). Sidebars on each page denote the research involved in backing-up the principles.

As an animator, artist and designer I find this book to a valuable resource in developing my ideas. Some concepts are more relevant than others. For example, a knowing the principles of Baby Face Bias, Attractiveness Bias, Archetypes and Face-ism Ratio, would be of great benefit to character designers, screenwriters, and story development artists. But what I find most intriguing is the amount of scientific research which goes into each principle. By studying the various principles, it becomes obvious, that aesthetics are guided by a combination of science and pyschology.

Here are some of the principles in the book:

80/20 Rule
Accessibility
Advance Organizer
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
Affordance
Alignment
Archetypes
Attractiveness Bias
Chunking
Classical Conditioning
Closure
Cognitive Dissonance
Color
Common Fate
Comparison
Confirmation
Consistency
Constancy
Constraint
Control
Convergence
Cost-Benefit
Defensible Space
Depth of Processing
Development Cycle
Entry Point
Expectation Effect
Face-ism Ratio
Feedback Loop
Fibonacci Sequence
Fitt's Law
Form Follows Function
Framing
Golden Raton
Gutenberg Diagram
Hick's Law
Highlighting
Iconic Representation
Interference Effects
Iteration
Law of Pragnanz
Layering
Mnemonic Device
Most Average Facial Appearance Effect
Ockham's Razor

taken from Universal Principles of Design: A Cross-Disciplinar Reference, by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler

-joe