The Laws of Simplicity

The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life

by John Maeda

Complex systems and information overload can drive us crazy. John Maeda explains the remedy. “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.” The ten laws of simplicity are:

• Reduce – The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction
• Organize – Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
• Time – Savings in time feel like simplicity.
• Learn – Knowledge makes everything simpler.
• Differences – Simplicity and complexity need each other.
• Context – What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
• Emotion – More emotions are better than less.
• Trust – In Simplicity we trust.
• Failure – Some things can never be made simple.
• The One – Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

Here’s my favorite line in the book: “While great art makes you wonder, great design makes things clear.” I think this thought applies to graphic design, product design, and even process design.

John Maeda is a graphic designer and computer scientist. He wrote this book while he was a professor at MIT Media Lab. Subsequently he was president of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Maeda, John. The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 2006. Buy from Amazon.com