Laws of Simplicity

John Maeda
John Maeda

Laws of Simplicity

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John Maeda
 

The Illusion of Speed

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Whenever I travel, I am always on the lookout for the right kind of chocolate-as-a-gift. This is often a difficult choice as although the taste of the chocolate is certainly important, the packaging is often an important constraint as well. Tourist-focused chocolates might have a landmark imprinted on the package -- say the Eiffel tower or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finding the right degree of authenticity is one thing I seek. For the above chocolate bar series I was drawn to the simplicity of the packaging style. The chocolate is clearly visible and a sticker is slapped onto the transparent sleeve. I felt it was an key2();?> approach first of all because the candy was not hidden behind gold foil or what-not. And in addition I sensed that the packaging process itself was one that took very little law3();?> either to conceive or execute. My takeaway was that freshness is supported by the illusion that thoughtful haste has been applied in presentation of an object.
Posted by John Maeda
 

Reebok Timetanium Shoes Release

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Tomorrow at 9AM my new limited edition shoes from Reebok will be released online. It was a really fun project working with a talented group of folks in RBK marketing and design with a true passion for the future of mass-customization. The design is themed on the 3rd law law3();?> and is codenamed "Timetanium" as a reference to the spectacular titanium tiles of Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao and flowing sinews of time represented with my algorithmically enhanced hand-drawn curves. Since I scribble the computer code on paper before I actually type it into be processed, the RBK designers suggested that I include that program code somehow so it is enscribed in the interior of the two shoes as a kind of texture (literally a text-ure). In the past the closest thing I designed was a skateboard; shoes are a new medium for me and I'm glad to have had a chance to spend some law3();?> on this project.
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Forever Stamps

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Looking through my stamp drawer I see a variety of penny and two-penny stamps that I use to "upgrade" my older valued stamps to whatever the current USPS rate might be. My memory isn't all that great, and thus I have found the pursuit of mastering knowledge of current postage rates to be an elusive art. As a remedy, I developed a US postage finder a few months back that wasn't working anymore as the USPS server had changed its service finder. I just fixed it and was glad to do so as I hadn't realized that domestic rates had gone up from $0.39 to $0.41 recently. When I made that post, a kind reader pointed out the forever stamps now available in different countries. The concept is simple. You never have to be confused by the changing postage rate as the value of the stamp is eternal. A few posts back we debated the value of saving law3();?> and concluded that there are often moments when you wish to savor an experience for a longer period. In the savoring case, you would want to prolong the pleasure. But on the other hand, there are definite instances for when you'd like to curtail the pain of an experience -- like trying to figure out whether you have enough postage affixed to your envelope. I have a friend that purposefully collects the most beautiful stamps to periodically affix to his personal communications. The experience of receiving these letters is profound. In that sense, he has chosen favoring law7();?> over the efficiency of saving law3();?>. So in conclusion, as I send this letter off to the health insurance agency to whom I have no particular feelings for on this date and don't mind the efficiency of a forever stamp, I feel my life is simplified. But tomorrow as I ship a few letters off to some old friends, I think I might browse through my stamp drawer to see if I can find something more law7();?>-ally meaningful.
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Opening Pandora's Box

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On the topic of the 3rd Law of law3();?> I refer to the iPod Shuffle as a good example of helping you save time by simply eliminating choice. There is no display screen to allow you to select a specific song for play, thus forcing you to either live in sequence or randomly shuffling through your playlist. A new friend from Italy pointed me to Pandora with a kind of incredulity that I didn't know of this service that he strongly felt exemplified "true simplicity." Enter your music preferences, and Pandora goes and plays you the songs you want to hear. As it gets to know you, it tailors the playlist as a kind of deejay customized to your world of music preferences. Pandora's been around for a while so it's nicely mature in its ability to deliver a satisfying experience. I'm a late convert for sure.
Posted by John Maeda
 

The Need for (Un)Speed

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I'm more of a Mac guy nowadays so I don't buy Dell computers anymore, but I appreciated the recent copy in Dell's in-print catalog of, "Wait Less." Anything that helps you feel like you are saving valuable law3();?> is going to feel like simplicity. I then began to wonder if there's any situation where you'd want to wait more? Definitely not waiting in line, or waiting for your food to come to the table, or waiting for your computer to startup (as in this Dell ad). I guess one could look at it instead as the joy of waiting. For instance to someone that loves gardening, if they were to pop a seed into the soil and within milliseconds a flower were to pop out of the ground would they be truly happy? Or for example you wait anxiously for your kids to grow up and when that's all happened you kind of wax nostalgically that it didn't have to happen so quickly. Without a drawn-out period of anticipation, can there ever be true appreciation. Instant gratification is indeed simplicity. But although waiting for something wonderful may lose its appeal along the way, the net result is equally, and if not more, fulfilling. Wait less, thank less; wait more, thank more.
Posted by John Maeda
 

Time For Ben

Today I was perusing quotes from Ben Franklin here and there
Do not squander time for
that is the stuff life is made of.
because I have a few deadlines right now that make me feel a bit law3();?>-less, and not in the good sense of the word. And then Ben hits me with
He that is good for making excuses
is seldom good for anything else.
which makes me think that he didn't want me to waste any time reading his stuff. Especially if I use good Ben as a poor excuse for procrastinating today. Because as Ben says
Lost time is never found again.
I hate it when Ben's right.
Posted by John Maeda
 

Lucky Fate

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The less time you have when constructing a piece of art, the more likely you are to make a mistake. But the less time you have, the more law3();?> you have saved doing other things with your life. In the remaining time left counting down to my exhibition, I took a little gamble in making a tiny new piece at the last minute and the effort seems to have paid off. One's good fate is the result of luck, or sheer skill? In my case it's always luck. Bad and good.
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Prompt Delivery

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While I was traveling in Taiwan about a month ago, I saw that the mailboxes have two slots. One is labeled in English as "Prompt Delivery." I thought it amusing that the assumption would be that the other slot would by nature be "Not Prompt." If the faster slot were labeled "Express," for some reason I would find the experience more forgiving. The subtlety of how we label law3();?>-based experience is amusing.
Posted by John Maeda
 

More Deskpats versus Less

I had promised to add more desktop pattern images over winter break but my break never came. Since I was taking so long, reader/designer Bert Mahoney sent me a few desktop patterns to help me finish this task. My fonts were different so I went and did a few more thanks to Bert's encouragement.
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Desktop pattern for a normal 4:3 aspect ratio screen (~50kb).
 
Desktop pattern for a 16:9 widescreen (~50kb).

The Third Law time expresses the importance of watching (or at least enjoying) one's springs.

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Desktop pattern for a normal 4:3 aspect ratio screen (~50kb).
 
Desktop pattern for a 16:9 widescreen (~50kb).

As I am a fan of all forms of education, my favorite Law remains the Fourth Law learn.

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Desktop pattern for a normal 4:3 aspect ratio screen (~50kb). [hc]
 
Desktop pattern for a 16:9 widescreen (~50kb). [hc]

In the Fifth Law differences I mean to express that if there's a yin, there's a yang.

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Desktop pattern for a normal 4:3 aspect ratio screen (~50kb). [hc]
 
Desktop pattern for a 16:9 widescreen (~50kb). [hc]

Keep your eye off the road to become aware of the Sixth Law context, but try not to forget where you're going.

PS Bert selected the colors for Law 3 and Law 4 for me in the examples he had sent. That certainly made it easy for me. Not having to think--that's real simplicity. Thank you Bert!
Posted by John Maeda
 

Toyota Production System

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A dry, but to-the-point, treatise on optimizing production from the Toyota Master Ohno Taiichi.
Posted by John Maeda
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