The Laws of Simplicity

Image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Keep. It. Simple.

Rules, they say, were meant to be broken, but the Laws of Simplicity is a collection of observations by MIT Professor and designer John Maeda which make sense to follow. His ten laws look at the way in which we can reduce, organize, learn and gain from keeping things simple in design, business and life.

In a world where gadgets are taking over, complex computer applications and hardware are practically running our lives for us, Simplicity, Maeda states, is gaining more importance daily. From the iPod to the cut down singular feature led work of 37 signals, its clear to see that often the simpler and focussed products of the new design world stand out and people use them without thought - the ideal for many a designer.

BITB couldn't agree more, and in under 100 pages (Law 1 - Reduce) this book isn't neccessarily the best of toilet reading materials, as your ability to dip in and out in a non-linear fashion is reduced somewhat by it presenting ideas throughout the course of the chapters, but its size and relatively short length of chapters do put it up there for a great serial read over a number of visits.

The content is geniuinely interesting regardless of whether you're involved in design, technology or not - the observations made affect anyone who isn't a member of the Armish community, and provides some interesting points to think upon. I wonder how many we're breaking on this site? Probably a fair few.

Matthew Knight

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