The power of simplicity: how to manage our complexity bias - Ness Labs

Famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who is considered one of the pioneers of modernist architecture, always kept repeating this aphorism to whoever would hear him: less is more.

His approach was to arrange the necessary components of a building to create an impression of extreme simplicity, sometimes repurposing some elements so they would serve several purposes.

One of the leaders of the minimalist movements, Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, urged his designers to “Simplify, then add lightness.” Designer of the world’s first ever stressed monocoque racing car, built with an entire chassis in aluminium sheet, Colin Chapman strived to use as few parts as possible in his cars.

Today, many product designers still use the magic of subtraction to innovate.

When trying to solve a crime, Sherlock Holmes, the most famous fictional detective believes that “the simplest explanation is often the most plausible.”

The French writer and poet, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, also wrote: “It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

In Living with Complexity , Professor Donald Arthur Norman wrote: “When things are too simple, they are also viewed as dull and uneventful. Psychologists have demonstrated that people prefer a middle level of complexity: too simple and we are bored, too complex and we are confused."

"Moreover, the ideal level of complexity is a moving target, because the more expert we become at any subject, the more complexity we prefer.”