From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Présentation de l'éditeur
Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling
against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and
software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has
made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity
paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use, but also does all the
complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda
offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and
design--guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.Maeda--a professor in
MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer--explores the question of how
we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something
more, something added on.Maeda's first law of simplicity is "Reduce." It's not
necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the
features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users
aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need. But simplicity is not
less just for the sake of less. Skip ahead to Law 9: "Failure: Accept the fact that
some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the
digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their
products--how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify
without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in
Law 10. This law, which Maeda calls "The One," tells us: "Simplicity is about
subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."
