Simple Might Be Too Complex
I am a huge fan of simplicity. The simpler it is to use the happier I am with the experience. However, I have also stated that making something seem like less does not necessarily mean you are making it simpler. There have been a couple of great articles this month discussing the role of simplicity in web design and application design.
- Strive for Elegance, Not Simplicity
- Simplicity Ain’t So Simple, Part I: Decide What to Hide
- Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
- Simplicity
What I am taking away from these articles is that less isn’t always more and simple doesn’t always mean non-complex. One of the more interesting quotes came from Joel Spolsky’s piece on Simplicity.
Devotees of simplicity will bring up 37signals and the Apple iPod as anecdotal proof that Simple Sells. I would argue that in both these cases, success is a result of a combination of things: building an audience, evangelism, clean and spare design, emotional appeal, aesthetics, fast response time, direct and instant user feedback, program models which correspond to the user model resulting in high usability, and putting the user in control, all of which are features of one sort, in the sense that they are benefits that customers like and pay for, but none of which can really be described as “simplicity.” For example, the iPod has the feature of being beautiful, which the Creative Zen Ultra Nomad Jukebox doesn’t have, so I’ll take an iPod, please. In the case of the iPod, the way beauty is provided happens to be through a clean and simple design, but it doesn’t have to be. The Hummer is aesthetically appealing precisely because it’s ugly and complicated.
I would love to hear 37signals’ response to this since while reading these articles I myself was thinking of the iPod and 37signals as examples that seemed to defy what these experts were talking about. We can’t give every user what they want, but maybe not giving all of them a little something of what they want is even worse.
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Doing less for the sake of doing less is no better than doing more for the sake of doing more. Doing less because it is the most elegant solution to a problem, on the other hand, is a beautiful thing.
By Jeff Croft on December 21, 2006 3:57 pm
Careful there Croftie, you keep on saying intelligent things like that people are going to assume you went to school.
By Scrivs on December 21, 2006 4:55 pm
Scrivs, I went to school for like eight years. Just because I didn’t graduate doesn’t mean…
…screw it. I sucked at college. :)
By Jeff Croft on December 21, 2006 5:34 pm
Cool people and designers don’t need college. And no you can’t be cool people and a designer at the same time, it just doesn’t work.
By Scrivs on December 21, 2006 6:18 pm
[...] Concerning the latest discussion about simplicity, BuzzFeed is a site that executes on simplicity in a great way regarding both features and design. [...]
By lab:kloud9 - BuzzFeed me like on December 22, 2006 4:30 am
Maybe the simple approach is just a result of proof how humans are in learning something new. We’d rather spend less time seeking out the obvious than to experiment and finding something new.
But I do agree sometimes to simplify is even more complex than just providing a comprehensive solution. :)
By Danny Foo on December 23, 2006 7:45 am
There are some very simple things that can be used in multiple ways. I think that applications of 37s are just like that: they are simple but they allow flexible and creative usage. As if features are not the part of the application itself, but the way you use the application. It’s like a pencil – all it can do is to leave a mark on paper. You can use it to put one dot, to draw a complex diagram or to create a work of art.
Not to mention multitude ways in which pencil can be used and which have nothing to do with its ability to leave a mark on some surface.
By Rimantas on December 23, 2006 6:21 pm
Your top nav bar breaks in IE. It’s unclickable and only partially visible. I love your greys.
By Johnny Debacle on December 28, 2006 4:20 pm