“The Laws of Simplicity” by John Maeda (personal notes)

In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda (of Depeche Mode remixing fame) lays out principles and weird acronyms for making our life easier. Favourite quote: “At the end of the day, there is an end of the day.” (See also: OKR, The Design of Everyday Things)

• To simplify, either reduce, or hide.
  • Reduce: (× Creative Act)
    • Reduce features. (iPod)
    • Reduce size. Small but mighty. Make things small (or light) to let them exceed expectations. We don’t expect much from small things. Counterbalance smallness (fragility) with projected quality.
    • Reduce time: efficient things are seen as simple.
      • Make the wait shorter vs make the wait more tolerable (the quantitatively fast vs the qualitatively fast).
    • Organize in order to reduce. Groupings turn many into few.
      • Fewer groups. Group together similar things, then group together similar groups (“slip”).
        • Create a high-priority list (group) across groups.
  • Hide complexity:
    • Advanced mode. Hide non-essential features (if you decide to keep them).
    • Simplify by abstracting (hiding): e.g. cloud syncing services.
    • Put it far away. Make it “bottom-of-mind”. More appears like less by simply moving it far, far away.
• Counterbalance simplicity with quality — either embedded (material) or projected (marketing), i.e. either implicit or explicit.
  • Advertise what cannot be conveyed implicitly. (Also for oneself! — Pavlina (Broadcast Your Desires); Improvise (add value, contribute information to the conversation))

• Knowledge makes things simpler. (× Scott Young, No Hard Subjects)
  • Metaphors as pedagogical “presets” for learning a tool — as learning shortcuts for complex designs (× Design of Everyday Things (conceptual model).
• It’s less hard when you have to. Difficult tasks are easier when they are “need-to-know” rather than “nice-to-know”.

• A clear environment highlights things (e.g. own room; dance studio). A clean space enables the foreground to stand out from the background. (× The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up)
• Simplicity stands out amidst complexity. Juxtapose simplicity with complexity to let it stand out.
• People don’t just buy but love beautiful designs — possessions that make their lives simpler.
• How our possessions feel changes how we feel. (“the upside of materialism” — × Pavlina)

• Coherence yields simplicity (repetition of a same message). (× OKR, × Clear Thinking (clear criteria), Essentialism) (repetition: × To The Actor (repetition))

• “Much is said about the development from child to adult as a gradual process of neutering emotional output.”
• “In the parlance of the business world, professing your love for someone is a high risk, high reward opportunity. As a person happily engaged in a relationship that has lasted for more than fifteen years now, I’m glad to have taken the risk.”
• Japan’s animistic penchant: every thing is alive, deserves respect.