The Vitruvian Principles: An Ancient Blueprint for Modern UX
- Rajib Ghosh
- Sep 6
- 3 min read
While exploring the history of modern user experience design, I stumbled upon something fascinating. It may be familiar to some, but it struck me deeply, and I felt it was worth sharing.
Long before the term “user experience” was ever coined, a Roman architect laid down a philosophy of design that still resonates today. Around 25 BCE, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio wrote De Architectura, a guide to building that was as much about human experience as it was about engineering. In it, he declared that every creation must rest on three pillars: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. Strength, utility, and beauty.
These weren’t abstract ideals. For Vitruvius, they were practical measures of whether a structure truly worked for people. And when you look closely, they feel astonishingly familiar to anyone working in design today.
Firmitas — Strength and Durability
Vitruvius believed that architecture must endure. A temple that crumbles after a few years cannot be considered good design, no matter how beautiful. In the modern digital world, this principle translates directly into reliability and performance.
Think of an app that freezes just as you hit “pay now” or a website that collapses under heavy traffic. The frustration is immediate, and trust is instantly eroded. Just as ancient builders relied on stone and mortar to deliver stability, UX designers rely on code, infrastructure, and scalability. Strength may not be visible when it’s working, but the moment it fails, the entire experience collapses.
Utilitas — Utility and Function
For Vitruvius, a building also had to serve a clear purpose. An aqueduct wasn’t just an engineering marvel; it had to bring water where people needed it. In UX, this principle translates into usability and accessibility.
A tool that looks impressive but doesn’t let users achieve their goals is little more than ornament. The best experiences are the ones that quietly get out of the way, enabling flow and clarity. Think of a ride-hailing app that lets you book a cab in three taps, or a medical portal that lets patients schedule appointments without confusion. Utility means alignment with human needs, not forcing people to adapt to poorly conceived systems.
Venustas — Beauty and Delight
The third principle might be the most timeless. Vitruvius insisted that buildings should not only stand strong and function well but also uplift the spirit. Harmony, proportion, and aesthetics were not luxuries; they were essential to human experience.
Modern UX design embraces this as the pursuit of delight and emotional resonance. An elegant typeface, a thoughtfully animated transition, or a well-crafted interaction can transform a task from mundane to memorable. When design is beautiful, people not only use it but also connect with it. Beauty may be subjective, but its power to inspire is universal.
From Rome to UX Today
What is striking is how directly these three qualities map onto today’s language of design. Firmitas becomes reliability, utilitas becomes usability, and venustas becomes delight. When Jesse James Garrett described successful products as useful, usable, and desirable in the early 2000s, he was unknowingly echoing Vitruvius across two thousand years.
Leonardo da Vinci later illustrated these principles through his famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, placing the human body at the center of proportion. That gesture — centering the human in design — is exactly what UX seeks to do today. Whether the medium is stone, paper, or pixels, the goal is the same: to design experiences that endure, serve, and inspire.
A Timeless Reminder
The Vitruvian triad reminds us that UX is not a modern invention. It is a continuation of a very old dialogue about how humans live with the things they make.
When you design a product or experience, the questions Vitruvius posed still apply:
Does it endure?
Does it serve?
Does it inspire?
If the answer is yes, then you’re not only practicing UX. You’re carrying forward a legacy that stretches back over two millennia.
Cover Image: https://www.felix-beck.de/nyuad/teaching/doku.php?id=utilitas_venustas_firmitas_spring2019
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