PebblePad design principles
There were a number of challenges to overcome to fulfil our ambition for a set of easy-to-understand, actionable and specific design principles.
Firstly, we wanted to get buy-in early in the process of generating the principles, so it was important to involve stakeholders from the wider business in the workshops I organised to define the draft principles.
Secondly, we felt it was important to keep the number of principles to a minimum as to maximise impact and make them as memorable as possible.
Thirdly, we wanted the process of defining the principles to be robust and to industry best practice. This was to ensure that the principles would stand-up under scrutiny from the wider business. We needed to be confident not only in the principles but also the process we utilised to define them.
Finally, we wanted to promote the principles to the wider business, so it was important we presented them in a professional, eye-catching format that not only raised the profile of the principles but also reflected well on us as a design team.
The goal for this project was to publish a set of design principles that we (design team) and the wider organisation truly believed in. Our aim was to deliver principles that could be embedded in the conscious of the whole organisation, ensuring we consistently met a set of well defined and relevant standards in our design work that were true to the companies beliefs and objectives and our own, design team ethos.
After researching the processes other organisations had used to generate their own design principles, I was able to devise several workshops that would deliver us what we needed. We were able to secure the involvement of key stakeholders including representation from the architects team, development, business development, customer success and the product team.
After working through the process I had planned, first drafts of the principles were generated and subsequently refined over a couple of sessions. I was then able to pull together the final versions into a series of 5 posters that communicated the principles in a simple, eye-catching style. Finally we promoted the principles through our monthly product showcase presented to the entire company, our UX and Design Hub and by physically putting the posters up around the companies headquarters.
The principles are now fully embedded in the design team and the wider company, ensuring a consistent approach to all design work.
