I've been following the work of John Maeda off and on for a few years. Maeda is a graphic designer, artist, and computer scientist who teaches at the MIT media lab. So we're a lot alike, except that he's famous.
Maeda's been writing and thinking recently about simplicity. He has a new book, The Laws of Simplicity, which I have not read, and a new eponymous blog, which I have, and recommend.
Here are Maeda's 10 Laws:
- Law 1: Reduce - The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction
- Law 2: Organize - Organization makes a system of many appear fewer
- Law 3: Time - Savings in time feel like simplicity
- Law 4: Learn - Knowledge makes everything simpler
- Law 5: Differences - Simplicity and complexity need each other
- Law 6: Context - What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral
- Law 7: Emotion - More emotions are better than less
- Law 8: Trust - In simplicity we trust
- Law 9: Failure - Some things can never be made simple
- Law 10: The One - Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful
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