"Perfection, then, is finally achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine De St. Exupéry | This is always something I've struggled with. I know I've gotten exponentially better with time, but I definitely have a long way to go. I have made the realization, however, that a simple design takes time to arrive at, and it is rarely the first thing you think of. Looking at a finalized, pixel-perfect, beautifully simple design can be intimidating. How did they think of that? Why didn't I see it that way? But then I tell myself that it probably took countless iterations, starting over entirely, tearful elimination of elements, and a massive amount of meticulous thought and critique to get to that finished product. I just have to give myself time and contemplate my work more. Simplicity is also frequently talked about in the book I'm reading for work, The Elements of Friendly Software Design by Paul Heckel. An interesting point Heckel makes that simplicity is most essential in the user interaction. While I first brushed this off as redundant, I gave it some more thought and realized it's a pretty important statement. He's saying that the interaction between the user and the software should be as simple as possible, not necessary that the design itself is so. I am constantly pressuring myself to reduce my graphic designs into the most minimal, clean, and simple possible, but that doesn't necessarily speak for how the user will interact with it. It may be that a little more complexity (a help message here, an extra icon there) is what is needed to create the most efficient, pleasant, and simple interaction. And its this idea exactly that is demonstrated in Involution's design Axiom to the left. I'm reminded of the 8 Basic Design Principles hammered into my unconsciousness from my human factors classes (thank you Dr. Kortum!): 1. Design to support the users' goals 2. Design to support the users' conceptual models 3. Design for the users' knowledge 4. Design for the users' skills and capabilities 5. Strive for consistency (but not at the expense of usability) 6. Provide useful, informative feedback 7. Allow for error recovery 8. DESIGN FOR SIMPLICITY I feel like these brief, but essential axioms of design sum up anything any book could ever say in 400+ pages. It all comes back to this. |
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