amazon highlights: The Laws of Simplicity / John Maeda / 2006

The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by John Maeda

 SIMPLICITY=SANITY

 Technology has made our lives more full, yet at the same time we've become uncomfortably "full."  Formun Üstü

 Formun Altı

 Widespread calls for simplicity formed a trend that was inevitable, given the structure of the technology business around selling the same thing "new and improved" where often "improved" simply means more. People not only buy, but more importantly love, designs that can make their lives simpler. Philips plan to reorganize not only all of their product lines, but also their entire set of business practices around simplicity. The hunt is on for simpler, more efficient ways to move the economy forward

The ten Laws outlined in the body of this book are generally independent of each other and can be used together or alone.

There are three flavors of simplicity discussed here, where the successive set of three Laws (1 to 3, 4 to 6, and 7 to 9) correspond to increasingly complicated conditions of simplicity: basic, intermediate, and deep. Of the three clusters, basic simplicity (1 to 3) is immediately applicable to thinking about the design of a product or the layout of your living room.

On the other hand, intermediate simplicity (4 to 6) is more subtle in meaning, and deep simplicity (7 to 9) ventures into thoughts that are still ripening on the vine.

Those experiments and further predictions of simplifying technology trends are visible as a free service on lawsofsimplicity.com as well.

TEN LAWS

1. REDUCE The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
2. ORGANIZE Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. TIME Savings in time feel like simplicity. 
4. LEARN Knowledge makes everything simpler.
5. DIFFERENCES Simplicity and complexity need each other.
6. CONTEXT What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral. 
7. EMOTION More emotions are better than less.
8. TRUST In simplicity we trust.
9. FAILURE Some things can never he made simple.
10. THE ONE Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful

 THREE KEYS

1. AWAY More appears like less by simply moving it far, far away.
2. OPEN Openness simplifies complexity.
3. POWER Use less, gain more.

 Law 1 REDUCE The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. 

The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. When in doubt, just remove. But be careful of what you remove. When it is possible to reduce a system's functionality without significant penalty, true simplification is realized. When everything that can be removed is gone, a second battery of methods can be employed. I call these methods SHE: SHRINK, HIDE, EMBODY. 

SHRINK: Simplicity is about the unexpected pleasure derived from what is likely to be insignificant and would otherwise go unnoticed. Any design that incorporates lightness and thinness conveys the impression of being smaller, lesser, and humbler. HIDE : When all features that can be removed have been, and a product has been made slim, light, and thin, it's time for the second method: HIDE the complexity through brute-force methods. SHRINK-ing an object lowers expectations, and the hiding of complexities allows the owner to manage the expectations himself.

EMBODY : As features go into hiding and products shrink, it becomes ever more necessary to embed the object with a sense of the value that is lost after HIDE and SHRINK.

 

Law 2 ORGANIZE Organization makes a system of many appear fewer

SLIP: SORT, LABEL, INTEGRATE, PRIORITIZE

Law 3 TIME Savings in time feel like simplicity. 

Law 4 LEARN Knowledge makes everything simpler.  Formun Altı

Law 5 DIFFERENCES Simplicity and complexity need each other. 

Law 6 CONTEXT What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral. 

Law 7 EMOTION More emotions are better than less. 

Law 8 TRUST In simplicity we trust.  Formun Altı

Law 9 FAILURE Some things can never be made simple.  Formun Altı

THE FLAWS OF SIMPLICITY 1: ACRONYM OVERLOAD

1. REDUCE The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
2. ORGANIZE Organization can make a system of many, appear fewer.
3. TIME Savings in time feel like simplicity.
4. LEARN Knowledge makes everything simpler. 

 THE FLAWS OF SIMPLICITY 2: BAD GESTALTS

1. DIFFERENCES Simplicity and complexity need each other.
2. CONTEXT What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
3. EMOTION More emotions are better than less.
4. TRUST In simplicity we trust.

 THE FINAL FLAW: TOO MANY LAWS

1. FAILURE Some things can never he made simple. 

 Law 10 THE ONE Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.