Even though I couldn’t draw a straight line if you paid me, I’ve been known to read a design book from time to time. It’s important stuff to know if you working in online marketing. A colleague of mine loaned me John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity. Capped at 100 pages on purpose, the book is an in-depth analysis and thoughtful masterwork on the underlying concepts that constitute simple, useful design. Geared a little bit toward product design, Maeda frequently references the simple design of the iPod as well as anything from Bang Olufsen as examples of simplicity well executed. The book is constructed around Maeda’s 10 Laws of Simplicity, ordered in terms of most tangible to most esoteric.
Maeda stays true to the topic throughout the book, keeping his chapters, his examples, and his lessons simple. It’s a good, quick read and I’d suggest it to anyone who is involved in design, usability, or art direction in at least some capacity. Coming from a non-designer, I would say this is a must-read book for all designer types out there – especially in this new Web 2.0-age of less-artsy and more user-centric web design.
If you haven’t the time to read the 100 pages, here are the Ten Laws of Simplicity:
- REDUCE. The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
- ORGANIZE. Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
- TIME. Savings in time feel like simplicity.
- LEARN. Knowledge makes everything simpler.
- DIFFERENCES. Simplicity and complexity need each other.
- CONTEXT What lies in the periphery of simplicyt is definitely not peripheral.
- EMOTION. More emotions are better than less.
- TRUST. In simplicity we trust.
- FAILURE. Some things can never be made simple.
- THE ONE. Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
Maeda’s 10th Law resonated completely with Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, particularly his instruction to “omit needless words.” It’s my fervent hope that If I keep studying, I should be able to draw that straight line someday.
