Marissa Mayers 3 Principles
Before Marissa Mayer became CEO at Yahoo (and we all remember how that went), she oversaw the layout of Google’s well-known, unadorned search homepage. At some point, she held key roles for almost every Google product.
During that time, she coined 3 rules for app design – which still hold valid today. If you follow these three rules, you will immediately create a much better product:
The 2 Tap Rule
Can you do anything you wanted in your app with just 2 taps? If not, your app has probably become too complex – time to simplify. Be aware: This doesn’t mean “everything”, but everything that you really aim for.
Which bring us to Rule number 2:
The Xerox Principle
Design your app in a way that the key function is right available at the push of a button. This is the function you would want to use 98% of the times you launch the app. Think of a Xerox machine: These things can scan, fold, enlarge, fax … but in 98% of the use cases, you would want to create a simple photo copy.
You can read more about the 98% rule in the Toolbox Article “The Xerox Principle”
The 5 Point Rule
Take a look at your UI design: For every font size, typeface and color, you count one point. Once you have surpassed the 5 points, you will have to redesign.
The 5 point rule is both simple to explain and hard to execute – neither Google nor Yahoo have never successfully implemented this rule on their websites. It does, however, help designers to create limitations within a design system. You can read the full Toolbox Article about the 5 Point Rule here.