Simplicity. Overused term. Underused concept. Think about it. Simplicity in design is lauded, applauded and worshipped. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/129/truly-intelligent-design.html
Museums iconize; books idolize and most important, consumers champion the cause through purchase.
Yet, despite our fascination, despite the proof of concept that simplicity sells (be honest you’d much rather buy the brilliantly simple than the genius obsessed complex), we seem to rediscover the need for simplicity in our approach to life versus beginning with it as a key foundational principal.
Tom Osborn asked me to address usability. Specifically the lack of simplicity in web sites, mobile communications and the like. Why can’t we be like the corkscrew and its many spin-offs: simple, user friendly and fail proof….mostly…
Google. Friend, enemy or whatever is my touchstone here — my model , so far, for what simplicity means; what it drives and what it can accomplish.
Answer this. What do you think is potentially the single most valuable advertising real estate in the world?
If you said the Superbowl or World Cup you are wrong; if you think it’s the You Tube spoofs of the U.S. Presidential candidates you are equally wrong – but they are funny… — and if you think it’s a banner hanging on the Birge Dubai you are way off base.
Here is my bet,on an absolute basis it has to be; no question,the home page of Google – that beautifully designed white space with the simple bar for searching.
Now, before you conjure up all the great opportunities that might present, go look again – there ain’t any advertising there at all. Not a hint. Not a tease. Not so much as a click here for free anything (except occasionally more services). Simple. Clean. Not just user friendly – this goes beyond – it’s user centric. Simplicity. CRM – Customers Really Matter.
I’d posit that Amazon is in that class as well. The entire site is designed to give you control. It is not designed to pull you down rabbit holes lined with “sticky” matter so that your eyeballs are elongated and maximized for advertisers. It has been created and fine tuned so that you can find stuff you want and buy with one click – anti-sticky – if you will. Another UC site – user centric. CRM – Customers Really Manage.
Yet with two great examples in front of us – and there are more – the proliferation of complexity, of redundancy, the continued discussion on “stickiness,” and the lip service paid to simplicity, boil my blood.
And by the way this argument extends to all facets of our lives as well.
Follow the commentary on the economic crisis and see if you can trace its roots back to the loss of simplicity in the way money was lent, borrowed and used. Look at the so-called “instruments” for investment that were developed to create more wealth (for its creators) and required labyrinth explanation or perhaps were designed that way…if you see my point.
Bottom line – simplicity is what life is about. Not the phony simplicity of pretending to be simple (oh those politicians…) but the kind of simplicity that makes our life better; easier; more fun.
Think wheel.
And here is a final thought:
“A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understand hard things”
~Herman Melville
Mouthing or designing or promoting hard things does not require “hard words”…see the point?
Keep it simple –
And what’s your view? Any good examples to share?
The word I’ve always used for this is “frictionless.” Decreasing the intellectual overhead to a decision or action.
Every time we make a customer or prospect figure out how to do something, whether it’s make a purchase, indicate a preference, or engage further with us, we introduce a potential barrier to that action, which not only decreases the number of people performing that action, but it also leads to user frustration and customer dissatisfaction.
While purchasing online, how many times have you said “Why is it so hard to give these people my money?!” How many times did you throw up your hands and say “forget it?” How often has that happened at Amazon?
Think frictionless.
Last, don’t assume that “frictionless” for the user means “simple” for us. It often takes remarkably complex data and algorithms to make things very simple for the user….
A quote I often use with my clients is, “simple doesn’t mean easy.” Arriving at a simple solution often takes more time and more thought than a complex solution. And few organizations have the patience to achieve simplicity. It’s an ongoing quest.
Simplicity: toothbrush, umbrella, bicycle.
Simple to start. And useful.
Simple is often what your audience should see…to start. Like Glenn and Lisa have said, there’s more to simple than simple. The simplicity of Google is based on massive, brilliant, ever-changing complexity…that turns out to be quite useful. And it’s the start (if you want to take the journey) to an ever growing set of useful services.
Simple is also often the best way to communicate…to start. Attention and interest are scarce assets, and simplicity can make the most of them. They can grow, however, and providing the option of continuing the conversation and/or getting more information can truly engage people and be quite useful.
Simple and effective communication can be difficult. To paraphrase many (Pascal, Thoreau, Twain, etc.), if I’d had more time, I would have made this comment shorter.
I echo Matthew and Lisa on this. It is important, but sometimes it takes time and a lot of energy. It’s insanely complex to be stupidly simple.
twitter, Google, Mac, iphone, Amazon, Roomba, Craigslist, Simple Human.. all proven points.
Got any others?
Thinking about this some more, I guess I’m way less conscious of really great and simple websites and portals. No need to think about them much, because they work for me. Google does it. But try finding a mobile phone to buy on optus.com.au, and boy do I remember that. It just doesn’t work. The good ones I don’t even “take for granted”. When they’re gone, I know the pain.
As most others mentioned, the simplicity and the elegance takes a lot of effort to achieve. It’s not just effort, it’s also about the very front end of thinking – working out what you’re thinking about, and what you’re dealing with in the first place.
Maybe too, it takes some trial and error and a whole lot of testing. I once used to sit opposite someone who did useability testing. She was pretty dumb when she was a tester. She wasn’t a dumb person, but when she put the tester hat on, she would ask the really dumb kinds of questions that led to great revisions in design. She would break things, in a natural way. She would get angry. Her only mistakes happened when the designers told her what they were trying to do, rather than let her go for it in her own way.
Tom.
Nice carry over from the global rally. Really like your comments on this one. Seems interesting that the new standard of a brand is it good for me, good for society and good for the planet and somewhere in those virtues advertising is going to have a hard time finding residence. Anyways this one hit home. Have a great day.
Wow, thanks for this timely topic. I concur with all points, particularly about the google homepage, but not so much about amazon.com. I think they have a long way to go before they become simplistic. I find their site overloaded with information and, at the risk of sounding as if I know what’s going on in the user space of online experience, I might have some recommendations for them.
I particularly appreciated your corkscrew and economic crisis analogies. Very true and very timely.