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fundamental rules in design and life: application and understanding for enhanced efficiency

The scientific methods that exist today are not always enough to justify all the things that are happening around us. How to explain that a sandwich most often falls butter side down, and a flash drive with a presentation stops working a minute before a conference speech? Why does the client find fault with the shadow from the "Contact" button, but does not want to use high-quality photos on the site? Where is justice and who is to blame for all this?

In order to systematize the world's turmoil, experts from different fields formulate their own rules of thumb, which are successfully applied in the world of branding, design and development as well. Today we analyze the most interesting of them on live examples.

Murphy's Law

"If there are two ways to do something, and one of them leads to disaster, then someone will choose this way."

Murphy's Law is also known as the Law of the sandwich or the Law of spite. The term itself was born in 1949: its author was Major Edward Murphy, who studied the causes of aircraft accidents at the California Navy base. According to legend, he said this phrase at the moment when the started aircraft engine began to rotate the propeller in the wrong direction. As it turned out later, the technicians installed the parts backwards.

One of the many consequences of Murphy's law is the Pauli effect. He says that in the presence of certain people, any technical equipment fails. Remember those terrible moments when a flawless project presentation suddenly turns into a nightmare right in front of the client?

This law explains a lot and nothing at the same time. Moreover, it rather confirms the fact that the curse of the devil is imposed on all of us. The good news is that we can at least be prepared to fail at the wrong time. So stock up on extra presentation boards, back up important files, and prepare for the worst. Then success will be a pleasant surprise.

Occam's Razor

"One should not multiply things unnecessarily"

In other words, you don't need to produce several similar elements if you can get by with just one. This rule applies perfectly to interfaces, information design, and even advertising copy. Here, for example, how this principle can work in the case of websites:

- not four clicks, but two;

- not seven fields in the application, but three;

is not a registration form, but an authorization through social networks.

Don't confuse this principle with minimalism: it's not just about looks. It is important not only to reduce the amount of unnecessary information, but to shorten the user's path to their goal. On a banking website, this is the customer’s path to getting a credit card, in the alarm clock interface, it is a quick setting of the right time, and in the advertising text, it is the delivery of the necessary information.

Finding the simplest solution is not as easy as it might seem. Complementing, overloading and complicating is a human nature and the scourge of many designers. This can be sinned by both juniors with their inherent youthful maximalism, and experienced specialists.

Occam's Razor will help you cut off all unnecessary and start working with the main thing. As a result, you will be able to increase the concentration of useful content in your project and remove unnecessary obstacles in the way of the user.

Parkinson's Law

"The work expands to fill the time available to complete it."

For the first time this phenomenon was noticed by the British historian Cyril Parkinson, who worked in the British civil service. He found that as the bureaucracy expanded, the employees of the departments became less and less efficient: the increase in staff did not affect the overall level of productivity.

This pattern is often interpreted as a human tendency to put things off until later, but this approach is not entirely correct. There is a big difference between the Parkinson principle and procrastination: in the first case, people change the amount of work and load in proportion to their deadlines, and in the second, they start the task at the last moment.

If something needs to be done in a year, it will be done in a year. If it needs to be done in five months, then so be it. If you set aside two weeks for a task that can be completed in two days, the task becomes more difficult just to fill the allotted week. In other words, the excess of time allows you to make the project larger and more complex, and its lack, on the contrary, cuts down the functionality.

KISS Principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

“Most systems work better if they stay simple, not complex.”

Modern programming languages, frameworks and APIs have become powerful weapons for developing complex solutions for a wide variety of tasks.

Developers are often tempted to create the coolest and most complex product possible. The KISS principle says that the less polymorphism (in other words, diversity), inheritance, and the like, the better the final solution will be. Good web designers know that a useful interface is an invisible interface. Hidden interfaces, sometimes called null interfaces, are a hot topic in the developer community. And not in vain. UI design really gets in the way. We don't want to focus on it - we want to focus on the content that the website provides.

By focusing on the experience, not the interface, you will ensure that your users remain at the center of your mission. And everything you do will make their life better and easier.

Pareto principle (80/20 percent rule)

"For many cases, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes."

The author of this pattern was the economist Vilfredo Pareto. In 1896, he found that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. There is also a story that before making a global calculation, Pareto, working in the garden, noticed that 80% of the peas are in 20% of the pea pods.

The direct consequence of the law is that most of the actions will inevitably be carried out in vain. Few things work fantastically well and have a huge impact, while most of what exists in the world is of little value and produces little results.

About 80% of your sales are generated by 20% of your customers. 20% of errors are responsible for 80% of failures. 20% of your employees bring 80% of your business results. The numbers may not always be even, but the ratio of four to one will be constant.

The 20/80 principle is widely used in business, but it can also be applied in everyday life. Try to answer the following questions. They seem complicated, but only because you have never tried to calculate this before:

- What do you spend 20% of your time on, while getting 80% of happiness?

What 20% of clothes do you wear 80% of the time?

- What is included in those 20% of foods and dishes that make up 80% of your diet?

Answered? Now think about how you can improve these areas of your life. Of course, these are far from all examples of the use of rules and laws from the field of economics, psychology and other sciences in design and development - everyone is able to find non-standard applications for the most ordinary axioms.

Whenever possible, try to compare how you make decisions in everyday life and work: who knows, what if your principle of choosing canned peas in the supermarket coincides with how the customers of the company where you work replenish the basket in an online store?

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Privacy Policy

1. An overview of data protection

 

General

The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in our privacy policy found below.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for the data collection on this website? The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator’s contact details can be found in the website’s required legal notice.

How do we collect your data?

Some data are collected when you provide it to us. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form.

Other data are collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using or when you accessed the page. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?

Part of the data is collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyze how visitors use the site.

What rights do you have regarding your data?

You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities.

Analytics and third-party tools

When visiting our website, statistical analyses may be made of your surfing behavior. This happens primarily using cookies and analytics. The analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous, i.e. we will not be able to identify you from this data. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information can be found in the following privacy policy.

You can object to this analysis. We will inform you below about how to exercise your options in this regard.

2. General information and mandatory information

 

Data protection

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website, various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible.

Notice concerning the party responsible for this website
The party responsible for processing data on this website is:

ICU CO., LTD.
Telephone: +66815434565
E-Mail: hello@icu.agency
Company registration number: 0845566007085

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (names, email addresses, etc.).

Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser’s address line when it changes from “http://” to “https://” and the lock icon is displayed in your browser’s address bar.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information, blocking, deletion

As permitted by law, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

Opposition to promotional emails

We hereby expressly prohibit the use of contact data published in the context of website legal notice requirements with regard to sending promotional and informational materials not expressly requested. The website operator reserves the right to take specific legal action if unsolicited advertising material, such as email spam, is received.

3. Data protection officer

 

Statutory data protection officer

We have appointed a data protection officer for our company.

Alexander Rusin
ICU CO., LTD.
Telephone: +66815434565
E-Mail: hello@icu.agency
Company registration number: 0845566007085

4. Data collection on our website

 

Cookies

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies.” They are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device’s memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the site.

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use (such as the shopping cart) are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors. If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be treated separately in this privacy policy.

Server log files

The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in “server log files”. These are:

Browser type and browser version
Operating system used
Referrer URL
Host name of the accessing computer
Time of the server request
IP address
These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (b) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.

5. Analytics and advertising

 

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”. These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Objecting to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this site: Disable Google Analytics.

For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see Google’s privacy policy: support.google.com

Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Demographic data collection by Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics’ demographic features. This allows reports to be generated containing statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-based advertising from Google and third-party visitor data. This collected data cannot be attributed to any specific individual person. You can disable this feature at any time by adjusting the ads settings in your Google account or you can forbid the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described in the section “Refusal of data collection”.

Google Analytics Remarketing

Our websites use the features of Google Analytics Remarketing combined with the cross-device capabilities of Google AdWords and DoubleClick. This service is provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

This feature makes it possible to link target audiences for promotional marketing created with Google Analytics Remarketing to the cross-device capabilities of Google AdWords and Google DoubleClick. This allows advertising to be displayed based on your personal interests, identified based on your previous usage and surfing behavior on one device (e.g. your mobile phone), on other devices (such as a tablet or computer).

Once you have given your consent, Google will associate your web and app browsing history with your Google Account for this purpose. That way, any device that signs in to your Google Account can use the same personalized promotional messaging.

To support this feature, Google Analytics collects Google-authenticated IDs of users that are temporarily linked to our Google Analytics data to define and create audiences for cross-device ad promotion.

You can permanently opt out of cross-device remarketing/targeting by turning off personalized advertising in your Google Account; follow this link: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/?hl=en.

The aggregation of the data collected in your Google Account data is based solely on your consent, which you may give or withdraw from Google per Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. For data collection operations not merged into your Google Account (for example, because you do not have a Google Account or have objected to the merge), the collection of data is based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing anonymous user behavior for promotional purposes.

For more information and the Google Privacy Policy, go to: https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/.

6. Newsletter

 

Newsletter data

If you would like to receive our newsletter, we require a valid email address as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the specified email address and that you agree to receive this newsletter. No additional data is collected or is only collected on a voluntary basis. We only use this data to send the requested information and do not pass it on to third parties.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You can revoke consent to the storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. through the “unsubscribe” link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remain unaffected.

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing to the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted from our servers. Data we have stored for other purposes remains unaffected.

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