5 Design principles

What this clause covers

The public contents gives clause 5 four design ideas and one warning. Minimalism is already defined in clause 3 as critical information plus the least extra information needed to be complete. Progressive disclosure is the technique of showing the next useful layer and keeping the rest reachable, and Annex A gives six named ways to do it, in seven subclauses. The four C principles are named but not expanded in the free preview. That gap matters. A team that fills the four Cs from memory, with confident, concise, clear and consistent, may be right or may be inventing a requirement. The honest position is to record the principle as named, keep the team's working definition in a separate note, and check the published text before relying on it.

The headings in this clause

• 5.1 General
• 5.2 Minimalism
• 5.3 Four "C" principles
• 5.4 Progressive disclosure

What to put in place before publication

1. Write a design principle note for the help that adopts minimalism and progressive disclosure in your own words.
2. Record the team's working definition of the four C principles, clearly marked as a working note until the text is public.
3. Audit three screens and mark what is shown at first view and what is one layer deeper.
4. Set a rule for what must never be hidden behind a disclosure control, such as a safety instruction or a legal notice.
5. Give the design review a checklist item for each principle, so the review can fail a screen.
6. Keep the principle note short enough that a designer will read it before the design, not after.

Evidence to keep

Where teams usually fall short

• Progressive disclosure becomes a reason to hide the help that users need most.
• The four Cs are quoted from a blog as if the standard said them.
• Minimalism is read as fewer words, so the help loses a step that the task needs.

What happens next

The FDIS text is the first place the four C elements can be read. Put a task in the plan to update the principle note on the day the text is available, before the next design sprint.