If All Software Were Simple We Wouldn’t Be Doing This
 | by Diego on December 10th, 2007 |
Great thinkers–and great companies–have always been capable of boiling concepts and products down to their very essence. Making things simple takes a lot of effort, that is why we don’t see it so often. As one of my favorite quotes confirms, from none other than from the pen of Sir T.S Eliot: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
Behind this, it is my belief, is a simple concept of the human psyche. As rational people, we perform best with simple concepts. But, as rational beings we are encouraged as children to make our world complex. In marketing school, they will teach you that your messages must contain as little information as possible. People can digest very limited data, and in marketing like branding, people will only remember one thing, if anything. If we think of the world’s great brands, you will find that they stand for one strong, differentiating attribute, not two, not more. Volvo: Security. Coca-Cola: Refreshing. Ikea: Value. Google: Search. Apple: Design. When companies begin maturing, they often feel they need to diversify their message and their brand, and start clouding the consumer’s perspective if it.
I recently came across Presentation Zen, a blog that preaches the values of Zen design in public presentations (talk about a niche). The foundation of the Zen aesthetic, we learn, is simplicity. A clear example of the theory can be seen by comparing Bill Gates’ and Steve Jobs’ slide presentations.
The Japanese understand simplicity very well, and use the Zen values in designing their enchanting Japanese gardens. Dr. Koichi Kawana, a world-renown artist, designer and architect famous for his Japanese gardens, says “In order to reach the essence of things, all non-essential elements must be eliminated.”
The technology world is filled with bad design. Technologists are given the task to design interfaces, and anyone with a personal computer can write software. As a result, we get a amalgamation of interactions with complex interfaces, and a ton of technology headaches. That is why we believe so firmly in what we do. In the video below, David Pogue, personal technology columnist for the New York Times provides an entertaining Ted talk on the importance of simple design and how the world needs a solution for the technology problems that are all too frequent. My favorite line, of course, is “Man, if someone figures out how to make money on this…” Boy David, are we going to give you something to write about.