Simplicity as a feature
2015-05-14
I've been reading a couple of books about design this year. The law of simplicity is an excellent book that illustrates the power and underlying theory of simplicity.
Simplicity is really hard to achieve, as it is the ultimate form of complexity. Without the best understanding of the complexity of the world we are dealing with, simplicity is simply unachievable. Given we understand the complexity to some extent, reduction is the first step for achieving simplicity. Anything that does not justify its presence should be removed. However, choosing what deserves to live is at the cost of what deserves to die, which makes reduction a very hard process. When reduction of a system's functionality can be conducted with minimum penalty, that's a ideal state of simplicity. More specifically, John gives three steps to achieve that.
Shrink
If a smaller thing exceeds our expectation, we are not surprised but pleased. Trying to shrink the size of the product we are building at all measures will create higher satisfaction for the users. As lightness, thinness conveys the impression of smaller, lesser and humbler. People tend to respect things when much more value is delivered as expected.
Hide
When we have removed all we can remove. The next step is to hide the complexity that we cannot afford to remove. Shrinking an object lowers the expectation. Hide the complexity allows the user to manage the expectations themselves. Swiss army life is a good example of this, only the tool you use will expose, other blades will be hidden.
Embody
At end of the day, while making the system/object simpler by shrinking and hiding, we still want to embed the full sense of value into the product. Here basically we want to embed both the perceived as well as actual quality into the product. For example, using the best materials and exquisite craftsmanship. Ferrari is able to created the high quality value to its product in both perceived and actual form. The upside of materialism is the way something we own feels can change the way we feel.