Design Principles
How eiDotter thinks.
Behaviour, then look
Two kinds of rule live here. The first is about behaviour — how an interface should treat the person using it. Those rules are universal: they hold whether the screen glows amber or sits clean and white.
The second is about look — and that's a theme, a choice. Today eiDotter wears DOS. The behaviour underneath never changes.
Your attention belongs to you.
The nine
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Start from the real context
We design from real people, real data, and real screens — not from assumptions or yesterday's conventions. Then we test it with the people who'll use it, and change what doesn't work.
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Immediate, visible feedback
Every action shows its effect at once. The system never leaves you wondering what just happened — or whether it even heard you.
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Make it perceivable
What you can do is visible. Controls look like what they do; related things sit together; you recognise, you don't have to remember.
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The user is never at fault
Modes are traps, so we remove them. There's always a way out and a way back. When something goes wrong, that's our bug to fix — not your mistake to feel bad about.
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Show the data, honestly
Density over decoration. We show the whole picture and the fine detail in the same view — and never bend the truth to make a chart look tidier.
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Less, but better
Every element earns its place or it's gone. If it needs a manual, it isn't finished. Built to last, not to chase this year's trend.
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Aligned with you, never extractive
We optimise for you finishing your task and getting on with your life — never for time-on-screen. No dark patterns, no manufactured urgency. Your attention belongs to you.
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You own your data
Open, portable, and accessible to everyone — accessibility is a gate, not a feature, so nothing ships that locks people out. No lock-in, ever.
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A tool for understanding
Software should help you understand — your work, your data, your world — not just transact. We build instruments for thought, not prettier databases.
Design in roles, not raw colour
A button is a primary surface, never #FFB000. We style by semantic
role and let the theme supply the value. That single discipline is what lets the same
components wear a different face without rewriting a line — and it's why a re-theme is a
swap, not a rebuild.
One system, more than one face
Today, eiDotter wears DOS: amber phosphor on near-black, sixteen CGA colours, one type weight, square corners. The look is a constraint we hold ourselves to, not a costume we take off when it's inconvenient — restraint as a feature.
But the nine above aren't about amber. They're about behaviour, and behaviour travels. So a modern, clean theme is on the way: the same discipline, the same accessibility, the same respect for your attention — a different face. Pick the one that fits your audience; the quality underneath doesn't change.
Read on
These principles ship with the design system in guidelines/design-principles.md, and the components that embody them live in the Storybook.