Laws of Simplicity

Step by Step

As I waited in line at Boston Logan International Airport, I enjoyed the anonymous shadows projected from one of the escalators in the lobby. One by one, they would come down to join me in line with bag in hand. Although I knew that they were one of me, their clear law6();?> of travel was made surreal and abstract by the window shading. I appreciated this dreamy moment to preface a ten hour flight in general darkness.

Posted by John Maeda

Lemon Flag

Shortly after I arrived in Milan, I ordered a green tea. By the time I was to finally leave the cafe, I realized that the little decorative display that came with my tea was functional -- my mind sort of blocked it out as being a lemon slice and instead interpreted it as some kind of flower. Looking at it now, the shrouded toothpick seems to signal a kind of warning to me to "stay away"; and furthermore green tea is not normally served with lemon. There was a mixup of competing law6();?>-s for my attention, and my jetlag wasn't helping any bit. That's okay as in the end, I didn't have to mutilate the lemon slice and managed to preserve the arrangement in its original state to live forever in a photograph.

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.


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.


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.


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.


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

The Power of Indirection

A month ago in an early morning car ride in the Bay Area, I was recovering from giving a lecture that didn't go well. law9();?> is something that I do well, and there's nothing like a 4AM ride to get the ghosts in your head to come out in full force. As with all steps taken in one direction, another road magically appears. In this case it came in the form, literally, of a magician. My driver that morning was a magician in his late 60s. A proud man with a wonderful laugh, he carried with himself an air of jest and enlightenment. I told him the story of my misfortune, to which he replied in a serious tone, "Well, did you try doing a magic trick?" He went on to saying how for every one hundred good shows you're bound to have a bad one. His advice was to shrug it off with a simple abracadabra. I tried to learn some of his secrets that morning but of course a good magician never tells. The one thing that I did manage to pry from him was the concept of indirection. His point was that nobody likes to be tricked; at the same time they all love to be pleasantly surprised. When their attention is focused on one place, it is then that the opportunity to pull something out of left field becomes a possibility. It was then that I realized that a magician is the master of consciously shifting their audience's unconscious law6();?>. This story is relevant for the fact that on a daily basis I see consumer's rained upon with the branded promise of "simplicity" and good things that are "simple" (as on the tub of ice cream in the photo above). Perhaps the belief that the power of suggestion is good enough. But I think the magic might be wearing off, and it might be time for the emergence of the power of indirection. What if complexity were the promise, and instead simplicity were what was ultimately delivered? I think that I might start believing in magic if this became the norm.

Posted by John Maeda

Simplicity Symposium: Part 5

Hong Kong-based architect Gary Chang showed this grainy picture of a "cageman" house. The structure is a low-cost unit that measures 1-meter by 2-meters where each unit is stacked vertically in a warehouse-like enclosure. There is no privacy as part of the living style of the cagemen, and naturally their belongings are pared down to only the barest of essentials a la law1();?>. Gary says that the inhabitants prefer living in the cages over regular living units because the spaces have the value of constant social interaction--surprisingly the cost difference to rent a cage versus a small flat is not significant. Gary scored a bit hit with the design of his suitcase house built near the Great Wall. This building is a single story structure where when you walk in, all you see is a simple floor stretched across the entire building with no walls. The trick is that the floors fold and flip to reveal a kitchen, bath, bedroom and other components in the spirit of hide as developed in the first Law. Describing his own tiny flat, Gary showed how he creates space on-demand by reconfiguring the elements based upon the time of day. For instance, he has a huge bed, that folds up to make space for his dining area with a kitchen that swings out, and then when finished eating he pops open his work space and then by the evening his projection TV screen unfurls with all other elements stowed away to create a personal theater. At the end of the day, everything vanishes and his bed folds out to continue the active cycling of his immediate living realm. It all looked quite simple to the audience, but by virtue of Gary's subtle mastery of the art of context.

Posted by John Maeda

Simplicity Symposium: Part 2

Sam Hecht spoke about how consumer electronics companies tend to look to their competition for inspiration, versus considering the actual context of need. He showed a short animation of a glass, zooming out to reveal the glass is on a table, zooming out to reveal the table is in a living room, zooming out to reveal the living room as part of a flat, zooming out to reveal the flat as part of a larger building, zooming out to reveal an entire city street. His point was how we cannot focus merely on what is in front of us as a strategy for understanding the problem at hand. This is no coincidence of course, as Sam was my original inspiration for the sixth Law of context. Later in his presentation, Sam spoke about how the philosophy of Industrial Facility, his studio with partner Kim Collins in the UK, is about thinking of humans as elements of the ecology of objects versus the normal human-centric stance taken in design. He drew a ring of objects: telephone, airplane, cup, etc. with a human being in the middle of the ring to signify the human-centered approach to design. Sam then drew a ring of objects where the human figure was just another element amongst the ring of other objects to signify his differing approach. One surprising assertion by Sam was that he never designs on the computer because he feels that the outcome is unnatural. Instead he designs in paper and at actual scale. He said that the process of working with physical materials is an important part of designing for the physical world. Sam closed by showing one of his projects where he designed a series of designed knives for Harrison Fisher that embody the first Law of reduce. On a deceptively simple note, the plastic handle of the knife is made of a special plastic that is cold to the touch -- which was an important embodying point to signify a more hygenic and upscale experience.

Posted by John Maeda