Law 9 / Failure

Some things can never be made simple.

> Excerpted from Page 1 of my book, The Laws of Simplicity

There's always an ROF (Return On Failure) when you try to simplify—which is to learn from your mistakes. When faced with failure, a good artist, or any other member of the creative class, leverages the unfortunate event to radically shift perspective. One person's failed experiment in simplicity can be another person's success as a beautiful form of complexity. Simplicity and complexity shift with subtle changes in point of view.

Concentrate on the deep beauty of a flower. Notice the many thin, delicate strands that emanate from the center and the sublime gradations of hue that occur even in the simplest white blossom. Complexity can be beautiful. At the same time, the beautiful simplicity of planting a seed and just adding water lies at even the most complex flower’s beginning. A relatively simple bit of computer code can produce surprisingly complex visual art. Conversely, Google's complex network of servers and algorithms produces a simple search experience. Deeming something as complex or simple requires a frame of reference.