Thursday, November 17, 2011

simple

Excerpt from the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Why do we assume that simple is good? Because with physical products, we have to feel we can dominate them. As you bring order to complexity, you find a way to make the product defer to you. Simplicity isn't just a visual style. It's not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. To be truly simple, you have to go really deep. For example, to have no screws on something, you can end up having a product that is so convoluted and so complex. The better way is to go deeper with the simplicity, to understand everything about it and how it's manufactured. You have to deeply understand the essence of a product in order to be able to get rid of the parts that are not essential. 

Jonathan Ive, describing his design philosophy at the Apple's design studio. Ive is one of the closest soul mates of Steve Jobs who shared his values about the design and their quest for true rather than the surface simplicity.

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I used to always think there is a lot more to just being simple or calling it simple. And it rang a bell when I read this paragraph.

Simple cannot be simply simple. 

Srik 

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