week 12

17/12/11. The complexity of simplicity.


This week we ended the 12-week module by talking about John Maeda, who could well be the world leading designer but also a professor and computer scientist. This last lecture focused on his ten laws of simplicity. Written late in 2005, the laws really help when producing work on a project involving design or other creative work. We discussed these laws in order to try to understand and assimilate them, and I include the list below:

1- Reduce. It is important spend time thinking and to find a balance between the simplicity and functionality of a product or a service.

2- Organise. Organizing your surroundings will, in the long run, show efficiency and will create extra time, which brings us to the next law.

3- Time. Managing to save time is a hard task and a constant battle. It can be very complex to find options for time saving. Even if it is difficult, when successful, saving time will make things seem simpler.

4- Learn. Knowledge will save time and make things easier. Collaboration is the key to success. It is equally important to know one’s own capabilities as well as being able to work in collaboration to combine these skills with others.

5- Simplicity and complexity need each other. Without complexity to compare it to, a less complex item may not seem so simple. Simplicity and complexity implement each other.

6- Context. It is important to always consider the context in which a project is done, to understand what is going on and where it is going.

7- More emotions are better than less. 72 per cent of people are afraid of showing their emotions but being passionate and caring will help in getting away with almost anything. If it is about you, it is always better to be autobiographical and refer to your own life and experience, as this will help viewers to recognise these emotions in themselves.

8- Trust. In simplicity we trust; it is important to believe in ourselves, to be confident in our judgment and have faith. If one does not believe in himself no one else will.

9- Failure. Some things can never be made simple. Failure is important; it will help to evaluate things realistically. Failing is part of the process and in times of failure the only way to proceed is to try again.

10- Most importantly: simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful. It is important to get to the point without obstructing the way with too much unnecessary information.

So to recapitulate and emphasize the aim of today’s lecture, we pointed out that learning some programming and algorithm is really helpful and almost indispensable as a designer. It is important not to focus too much on the past; the past does not matter, the future is where we want to be. We have to work harder and eliminate the factors/people/elements/reasons that are slowing us down, have fun and play, think differently and experiment, now!

Thanks to our lecturer, Paul Moore.

Happy holidays.