Fundamentals of Design For Dummies

Another week has begun and you know what that means! More posts from yours truly 😘

Today's post is in continuation of this new series I started where I wanted to share various introductory topics with you all while still keeping it car related. If you want to see my previous post on an introduction to philosophy through cars, click here. Today, I will be focusing on universal design principles. These principles are essentially fundamental patterns that we perceive and follow in life. If you like this post, there is an entire book on these principles of design called, "The Pocket Universal Principles of Design," by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler.

Let's get started!

tesla.ca

tesla.ca

OCKHAM'S RAZOR

This philosophical principle dictates that the simplest solution is often the better choice. In general, Ockham's Razor can be applied to designs of material objects in which simpler designs are usually preferred. For example, dashboards have evolved over time to become simpler in their visual designs. The Tesla Model S is notorious for having one of the simplest and most beautiful dashboards of all time.

HDcarpics.com

HDcarpics.com

VEBLEN EFFECT

This idea was created by the economist Thorstein Veblen. He claimed that people find products more appealing if they are more expensive. In other words, people associate higher prices with higher quality. In the book, "The Pocket Universal Principles of Design," the Tesla Roadster is used as an example to illustrate how they were able to change the perceived notion of electric cars being slow and ugly, to an image of luxury and high status.

WEAKEST LINK

Weakest links are designed to fail first. This can protect other, more important components. For example, cars are generally designed to have weakest links. In the event of a crash, the front and rear of the car will instantaneously crumple to reduce the impact to the car's cabin. As a result, the passengers are cocooned in a shell of metal.

chevrolet.ca

chevrolet.ca

INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS

This is when we are unable to notice something that is unusual because we are focused entirely on another task at hand. For example, if you are incessantly looking for Ferraris, you may fail to notice a Corvette pass you by. Another well known example is the following video below:

RED EFFECTS

Our cognitive and behavioural traits change when we are exposed to the colour red. Red tends to increase competitiveness and add a slight advantage in general attractiveness. The colour red also distracts us in learning environments and places that require creativity. Teams that adopt red colours are seen to have a slight advantage during competitions. For this reason, if you are planning on racing cars, make sure your car is red 😏

lamborghini.com

lamborghini.com

GLOSS BIAS

Simply put, people prefer glossy materials to matte materials. This may have benefitted our early human ancestors in their search for water sources as glossy surfaces and as such is most likely an evolutionary trait. This is why glossy smartphones and glossy cars look extremely appealing to us.

And that's it! What did you think of my list? How many of these did you know? Let me know in the comments!

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