The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life

I am a self-confessed computer geek; I have programmed for pay in four languages, taught programming in twelve different languages and have been the instructor for nearly every course in our undergraduate computer science major. Yet, I am constantly frustrated by the electronic devices that I encounter. The remote for my cable box has a terrifying number of buttons, and occasionally some must be pressed in sequence. My small video recorder has only a few buttons, which means that operations almost always require a sequence to be pressed. In the first case, the attempt to make everything simple has introduced the increased complexity of a large number of buttons and in the second case the attempt to make things simpler has introduced the complexity of sequential actions. Neither one works for me and I am hardly unique. Maeda puts forward a program designed to introduce true simplicity into the world of human-technological interactions. He starts with what he calls Shrink, Hide, Embody (SHE) and describes 10 laws of simplicity. They are: *) Reduce - the simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction *) Organize - organization makes a system of many appear fewer *) Time - savings in time feel like simplicity *) Learn - knowledge makes everything simpler *) Differences - simplicity and complexity need each other *) Context - what lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral *) Emotion - more emotions are better than less *) Trust - in simplicity we trust *) Failure - some things can never be made simple *) The One - simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful As the power of technology increases, the human ability to comprehend it decreases. With this reduced comprehension there is a need for simpler and more effective control mechanisms and the ways to do that is the theme of this book. The author is very effective in demonstrating ways to reduce the complexity to the point where it can be managed. Like most people in information technology (IT) my life his hectic and cluttered. I applied some of the ideas in this book to reduce the clutter in my office by about 30% and will start on the work area of my house this weekend after the commencement exercises. The next time I teach computer interface design; this book will be a required supplement and the students will be required to read it before they move into the area of building a complex user interface.

I had an opportunity to hear John Maeda speak recently. Here are a few things John said that I really like: "Humans want 'more' (food, storage, stuff). So 'more' is an important marketing concept. But while humans want more, design is about less. Yahoo design is about more. Google design is about less." I ordered "The Laws of Simplicity" even before his speech was done. It is a short book and I read it in one sitting this weekend. II really enjoyed it. My favorite is Law ten: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful." I am not a designer. Instead I write and speak about marketing. While John writes about simplicity as it relates to design, I am convinced that the same things apply to marketing and PR. For example, marketers love to use big gobbledygook words when they write - things like "mission critical" and "next generation". But simplicity of language is what sells. So I am recommending Laws of Simplicity for marketers too.

In the spirit of the book: 1. Apply to software, web, graphic design. 2. Gift to your user, then ask for feedback on your system. 3. Repeat ... I've tried loaning this book out, however I never get it back, (I'm reminded that only your friends steal your books). If you have a copy of Tufte's books, (Beautiful Evidence or The Visual Display of Quantitative Information), this text is a perfect balance. As much as I enjoyed this book I felt the author's use of TLA's failed in his purpose to work as a mnemonic device.

I'll try to keep it simple. The Great: The length - 100 pages. The size: perfect. The feel: well-designed and reader friendly. Has the feel of a book you can read in one sitting. And, you can! Greatest: The philosophical content. It does not dumb down to make everything simple or preach the elimination of complication. It's comfortable with ambiguity. That's realistic and wonderfully clear. The Good: Acronym overload - the author even admits it. Some of the first laws have accompanying mnemonic devices such as SHE: (Shrink, Hide, Embody) or HER (Hide Embody, Remove.) Interesting but not all that helpful. Also good - the personal nature of the writing. Lots of personal, anecdotal experience - with kids and students and growing up - enhance the humanity and engagement with the subject matter. The illustrations - often quite interesting. It makes sense that the author is a visual artist, and it must have taken some personal discipline to focus on text and not on images. But, when the images appear (sparely) they enhance the text in non-verbal ways. The weak: What's with the cover? Seems like the opposite of simplicity. The metallic ink, the swirling vortext. Weird, and Weak. I look forward to other books in this series on Simplicity from MIT Press.