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

“Technology has made our lives more full, yet at the same time we’ve become uncomfortably “full”.”
–John Maeda

I just added The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda to my Bookshelf. John argues that technology and life only become complex if you let it be so. Even then, as he highlights in law #5, we can’t have simplicity without complexity. With that, here are his ten laws and three keys:

• Law 1 Reduce: seek thoughtful reduction to achieve simplicity
• Law 2 Organize: achieve illusion of few through organizing many
• Law 3 Time: give a sense of simplicity by reducing time
• Law 4 Learn: drive simplicity through wisdom
• Law 5 Differences: realize, simplicity and complexity are the yin and the yang
• Law 6 Context: simplicity with no regards to situational meaning is meaningless
• Law 7 Emotion: don’t cast aside your feelings in the search for simplicity
• Law 8 Trust: in simplicity we trust
• Law 9 Failure: remember, not everything can be made simple
• Law 10 The One: simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful
• Key 1 Away: distant things looks smaller and less complicated
• Key 2 Open: simplify complexity through openness
• Key 3 Power: less is more

I don’t necessarily agree with all of John’s conclusions. Does openness really promote simplicity? I have dealt with few open source packages, and it is definitely a mix bag out there. Is it knowledge or wisdom that drives simplicity? As the world get more complex, and people get wiser, can we get away with the illusion of simplicity without delivering something more substantial? Yet, he does stir the bag with valuable insights, especially with Law 10 – The One. At the end, I would recommend the book for any product managers and developers who are looking to simplify their offerings and establish their own philosophy for simplicity. Here are some of his insights that you should add to your product development checklist:

• Did I lessen what I can, and hide/distance/organize everything else without loosing sense of inherent value?
• Did I follow the rules of organization: What to hide AND Where to hide AND What to hide with?
• Did I remember the 80/20 rule of focus on the vital few?
• Is my new design creating an instant sense of familiarity?
• Did I make cultural assumptions that may not be true?
• Does the customer have an emotional connection to the product/service/… ?

And for when I think I repeat myself little too much, here is a holistic approach from John:

“BASICS are the beginning.
REPEAT yourself often.
AVOID creating desperation.
INSPIRE with examples.
NEVER forget to repeat yourself.”
–John Maeda

For more of John Maeda, check out the following blogs:

• Laws of Simplicity blog
• Our (and Your) RISD
• Maeda’s blog on MIT’s Technology Review

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