Less Is More: New Simplicity in Graphic Design

The maxim "less is more" has long been associated with Modernism, while a more appropriate slogan for Postmodernism (said Robert Venturi) is "less is a bore" or "more is more." This is hardly a new dichotomy because, as this book explains, the primary squabbles in art and design have been about complexity (more) versus simplicity (less). "The histories of art and design are replete with epochs, movements and styles that employ clutter as an ideological or aesthetic reaction to purity," the authors argue, and since the 1980s (Postmodern, Retro, New Wave), "visual clutter has reigned supreme." Using scores of examples of graphic design, the authors predict that the pendulum has caromed off "more is more" and is now swinging back toward a simpler, less layered approach to design. If so, this is one of the earliest books to announce the new paradigm. (Copyright © by Roy R. Behrens, from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol 15 No 2, Winter 1999-2000.)