Simplicity and Complexity

I pride myself in being able to explain complex situations in a simple way that anyone can understand. I have also been accused of sometimes making things look more simple than they are. The following article on John Maeda examines some of the tension between simplicity and complexity. David Orr

Source: Signal vs. Noise; 9/14/2006; 11:18:59 AM.John Maeda: The Master of Simplicity.

John Maeda is a graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist at the MIT Media Lab. He’s been dubbed “the Master of Simplicity,” is the author of a blog on simplicity, and also has a new book called The Laws of Simplicity. The book outlines ten laws of simplicity over 100 pages (a page count restraint Maeda imposed on himself). It’s full of interesting anecdotes and big picture ideas about simplicity. Below are some excerpts.

Simplicity = being found…

Complexity implies the feeling of being lost; simplicity implies the feeling of being found.
Ship fewer features at a higher cost?…

Imagine a world in which software companies simplified their programs every year by shipping with 10% fewer features at 10% higher cost due to the expense of simplification. For the consumer to get less and pay more seems to contradict sound economic principles…Yet in spite of the logic of demand, “simplicity sells.”

Hiding complexity through deception…

Hiding complexity through ingenious mechanical doors or tiny display screens is an overt form of deception. If the deceit feels less like malevolence, more like magic, then hidden complexitiies become more of a treat than a nuisance.

The evolution of the iPod…

We can read this sequence of iPod evolutionary steps as “starting simple, then getting complex, and finally becoming over-simple.” What do I mean by “over-simple”? I mean that you can simplify to the point where you simplification has been made obvious. This has the same effect as yelling at someone, “Look dummy, I’m simpler!”

The iPod Shuffle and letting machines choose…

Giving up the option of choice, and letting a machine choose for you, is a radical approach to shrinking the time we might spend otherwise fumbling with the iPod’s scroll-wheel.

Squint to see more…

The best designers in the world all squint when they look at something. They squint to see the forest from the trees — to find the right balance. Squint at the world. You will see more, by seeing less.

Progress bars…

When a graphical display of progress, or a “progress bar,” was shown, the user would perceive that computer completed the task in less time than when no progress bar was shown at all.

Simplicity needs complexity…

Nobody wants to have only simplicity. Without the counterpoint of complexity, we could not recognize simplicity when we see it…Simplicity and complexity need each other.

Return to beginnerdom…

In the martial art of Karate, for instance, the symbol of pride for a black belt is to wear it long enough such that the die fades to white as to symbolize returning to the beginner state.

Urgency and the creative spirit…

In the field of design there is a belief that with more constraints, better solutions are revealed…Urgency and the creative spirit go hand in hand.

Reduce to the essence…

When I had once lost all interest in teaching some years ago, I was visiting Weingart in Maine to give a lecture for his then regular summer course. I marveled at Weingart’s ability to give the exact same introductory lecture each year. I thought to myself, “Doesn’t he get bored?” Saying the same thing over and over has no value in my mind. Yet it was on maybe the third visit that I realized that although Weingart was saying the exact same thing, he was saying it simpler each time he said it. Through focusing on the basics of basics, he was able to reduce everything that he knew to the essence of what he wished to convey.