DeBono's version of Simplicity is useful here. In his book on the
subject (which, IMHO is the best one he's written) he compares
complexity to energy. You can't remove it, you can only shunt it
around to different places. Sometimes that means pushing it onto the
computer to do some complexity crunching, sometimes onto the
developers and designers who have to spend time and effort to work
things out so that they can be simpler for the end user. Sometimes the
end user gets a good dose of it, depending on the circumstances and
abilities of the end user (for example, a router than can only be set
up via the command line). Whatever you do - the complexity existing in
the system remains, it just gets moved around and hidden (sometimes).
What Dave is getting at here is that design isn't so much about
simplicity as it is about clarity.
Simplicity is a lack of complexity. It is easy to make the simple
clear. It is difficult to bring clarity to the complex. Design isn’t
about making the complex simple—it is making the complex
understandable.
Best,
Andy
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Andy Polaine
Research | Writing | Strategy
Interaction Concept Design
Education Futures
Twitter: apolaine
Skype: apolaine
http://playpen.polaine.com
http://www.designersreviewofbooks.com
http://www.omnium.net.au
http://www.antirom.com
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