03 · Foundation
Six rules that can say no.
A principle is only useful if it can reject work. Each one below names the design principle it rests on, from Lidwell, Holden and Butler's Universal Principles of Design, and the test to apply.
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01
The customer's brand is the colour.
We serve rival bottler systems. Blue means Pepsi to a Coke buyer. So our own marks, type and frames stay black, white and grey, and the product and its imagery carry every colour.
Test: does any colour on this piece belong to us? If yes, remove it.
Figure-Ground RelationshipThe customer's brand is the figure; we are the ground.
Signal-to-Noise Ratio -
02
Show the spec, not the adjective.
A bottler trusts a size, a packout and a set-up time more than "innovative". Every display we show carries its name and at least one real number.
Test: strike every adjective. Is there still a reason to buy?
Recognition Over RecallName the thing and its numbers, so no one has to remember.
Performance Load -
03
White space is the material.
What makes a page feel considered is what is left out. One idea per page, generous margins, and nothing that exists only to fill a gap.
Test: would this piece be better with one element fewer? Then remove it.
Signal-to-Noise RatioAesthetic-Usability EffectA clean page is trusted; a busy one is not.
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04
One wordmark, one way.
For years the company used four logo arrangements at once. Now there is one wordmark, one master file, one contact block, used the same way everywhere.
Test: was the logo placed from the master file on Downloads? If it came from a website or an old job, replace it.
ConsistencySimilar things look and behave alike.
Similarity -
05
Drawn before it is built.
Our designers engineer what they design. We let that show, quietly: real linework from our own drawings, used as a faint texture on some pieces, never as decoration.
Test: is the linework from a real Profitmaster drawing, and is it faint enough to read text over? If not, remove it.
Figure-Ground RelationshipFramingThe drawing frames the product; it is never the subject.
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06
Built for the person who sets it up.
The display's real user is a route merchandiser with a pallet jack. Instructions, labels and forms are written for them: large type, plain words, one step per line.
Test: can someone read it at arm's length, in a stockroom, in one pass?
LegibilityAccessibility
AffordanceThe form of the thing says how to use it.
Usability rules that apply everywhere.
| Rule | What it means here | Principle |
|---|---|---|
| One statement per surface | Every page, slide and sheet opens with the one thing that matters. Everything else steps down. | Hierarchy |
| Summary first, detail after | Catalog spreads lead with the product and its name; specs sit below. Web pages tuck detail behind "more". | Progressive Disclosure |
| Groups of three or four | Features, steps and highlights come in threes. Past five, split the list. | Chunking |
| Rules, not boxes | Hairlines and alignment separate content. Boxes are for things that really are separate objects. | Alignment · Proximity |
| Every number has a unit | 48 in, 26 × 48 × 72 in, 30 min set-up. Never a bare number. | Recognition Over Recall |
| Never colour alone | Status, warnings and choices use words or shapes as well as tone. | Accessibility |
| The sensible option first | Templates open ready to use: the logo placed, the contact block right, the grid set. | Defaults |
