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Principles & Values

Purpose

The purposes of Eufemia are:

  1. To establish a shared vocabulary and an open platform for designers and developers.
  2. To ensure consistency and adherence to the look and feel of DNB digital products.
  3. To provide principles and guidelines for designers and developers.
  4. To encourage re-use of code and design resources.
  5. To exist as a single source of truth.

Introduction

You will find two sets of principles in the DNB Design System and one set of values.

  1. Design System principles: this is a set of principles for users of the Design System.
  2. End-user principles - the principles upon which we build DNB products and services for our users.
  3. Brand values - located in the Brand book.

Design System Principles (Eufemia Principles)

  1. Don't add bloat to the system at the same time do not let the system develop debt - old content is no longer relevant.
  2. The system and its content should be self-explanatory - easily picked up and understood by a new designer or developer, i.e not dependent on a single individual.
  3. Add content to the system like it's your last day - add comments, clear succinct descriptions to code and design files.
  4. Eliminate this question: "I'm new here - where do I find the...".
  5. The work is never done - A system of guides can and should be continuously improved.
  6. Focus more on communication than the tools of the trade - common language and understanding, frequent discussions, including of all stakeholders...
  7. Stay agnostic - code, data, and design file formats should remain as platform and application-independent as possible.
  8. Comply to the living system principles as well as the maintainability principles.
  9. Test Test Test - continually test the system with its users to ensure it is relevant, usable, and goal.

End-user Principles

  1. Design for all - follow accessibility and usability guidelines for everything you make.
  2. Start with users - gain insight, discover their needs, understand them.
  3. Understand context - when, how, where, with which device, etc.
  4. Maintain consistency both visually and through the re-application of design extensions.
  5. Just enough interface. When in doubt, remove.
  6. Design and code with performance highly prioritized.
  7. Consistent experience across all platforms - small touch screens to large desktop displays.
  8. Reuse, reduce and recycle. Harness the efficiency of reusing extensions and components.

DNB Brand values

DNB Brand values are located on page 6 of the DNB Brand book. The values are built on these three foundations:

Curiosity, Responsibility, Bravery