The Laws of Simplicity Book Summary - The Laws of Simplicity Book explained in key points

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The Laws of Simplicity summary

Name: The Laws of Simplicity
Rating: 3.8 (55 reviews)
Author: John Maeda

John Maeda

Design, Technology, Business, Life

3.8 (55 ratings)

18 mins

Table of Contents

The Laws of Simplicity
summarized in 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Learn how to reap the benefits of simplicity at work and at home.

Do you ever reminisce about the “good ol’ days” when the phone in your living room and the mailbox in front of your house were the only ways to communicate with you from afar? Back when things were simpler?

Today, you’re accessible basically everywhere imaginable. You get email on your laptop, texts on your smartphone, Facebook messages via your tablet, and who knows what will come next.

It can’t be denied: although technology has made many things in our lives easier, every new technology – every upgrade, every new device and invention – adds a certain degree of complexity. So is there no escape?

Don’t worry, there is. Not only can we aim to make things simple, often, we actually have to (if not to make money, then at least to stay sane). In fact, simplicity – rather than complexity – is sometimes even the secret to a product’s success.

But it’s not only businesses who benefit from making things simple: by simplifying our private lives, we can ensure that we get a lot more enjoyment out of them.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

why your remote control is so small,
why people buy sleek, simple phones but zany accessories,
why it’s worth asking the chef for his personal recommendation and
why simplicity can ruin your doctor’s bedside manner.

In this increasingly complex world, simplicity is a luxury.

Have you ever wondered what makes Apple products, like the iPod and iPhone, so successful? The answer is that Apple has managed to make their products simple: easy to use and understand.

And in a world that’s becoming increasingly complex – with more technology, more means of communication, more available information, etc. – simplicity has become a luxury worth striving to achieve. As such, simple products stand out in the market.

For example, the iPod stood out among competing mp3 players precisely because it was simpler than the other complicated brands. Indeed, because technology will always become more and more complex, you too can make your own products stand out by striving for simplicity in their design.

But how do you go about achieving simplicity?

Simply put (pun intended!), simplicity is all about “subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.”

The design of Apple’s iPod is a perfect example of these principles in action. Apple knew that adding different buttons for each and every function was the obvious design choice. So instead, the iPod shed all the complexity of other mp3 players by merging these different functions into a single, round control pad.

By combining elegance with function and ridding the device of unnecessary complexities, they were thus able to create a meaningful innovation.

The formula for simplicity isn’t just useful in the tech world; we can also use it in our private lives by subtracting the unimportant so the meaningful can stand out. For example, if you love someone, then taking away small talk and drama and simply acting according to your meaningful feelings will simplify – and enhance – the relationship.

No matter what area of life, the right kind of simplicity can make things easier and more meaningful. These next blinks will explore exactly how.

Simplicity can be attained through easy hacks like reducing functionality or shrinking the product.

So now that we’ve seen why simplicity is an important characteristic for innovative products, how can we achieve this in product design?

The most direct path to simplicity is to remove functionality, i.e., decrease the number of things that your product can do. To do this successfully, you have to find the right balance between what’s necessary and what’s not.

In the realm of time management, organization can bring simplicity.

As advances in technology make our lives increasingly complex, it becomes more and more important to reintroduce simplicity to your life wherever possible, including the way you manage your time. In order to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed by the huge amounts of information and responsibility that come with technology, it’s essential that you stay organized.

Proper organization starts with grouping and labeling your tasks. For example, if you want to plan out all your responsibilities for the week, you should first write down each task on a Post-it and then group them under a common theme. Doing so makes it easier to process a large amount of information by reorganizing that jumble of tasks into ordered information.

Using the time you have in the right way is crucial in simplifying your life.

Everyone knows the feeling of being in a rush to finish their huge to-do lists. When this happens, everything seems overwhelmingly chaotic and complicated. However, the same to-do list can seem simple – and even fun – when you have plenty of time to get everything done.

In fact, having more time actually produces the feeling of simplicity. And while we can’t add more hours to the day, we can use our time more efficiently, thus leaving us more of it to spend elsewhere.

Because knowledge makes everything simpler, learn how to teach things right.

Have you ever had a great mentor or teacher? What was it that made them so great? It was most likely their ability to help you understand and do things on your own that you couldn’t before. Essentially, they helped make things easier for you: what used to be complicated became simple. So what’s the secret to being a good teacher?

While many teachers try to create motivation through rewards or punishment, i.e., positive and negative motivation, in reality, it is the style of teaching itself which fosters motivation. In order to motivate others to learn, follow these two rules:

We can simplify our lives by placing our trust in others.

Have you ever been at a restaurant and everything sounded so good that you couldn’t to decide what to get? Wouldn’t it be simpler if there were something or someone you trusted who could have made that decision for you?

Indeed, you can simplify your life by relinquishing control to someone or something you trust. If you trust that technology will work to your benefit, then you can hand over some of your responsibilities to it.

Simplicity is not always the answer, especially when it comes to dealing with emotions.

Imagine you’re sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office waiting for test results. The doctor comes into the waiting room and suddenly announces: “You have cancer,” then turns around and leaves to attend other patients, leaving you alone in the waiting room.

While this is certainly the quickest, simplest way of communicating your diagnosis, it’s obviously not the right one. This goes to show that pure simplicity is not always the best solution, especially when people’s emotional well-being is at stake!

Technological developments change which facets of our lives can be simplified.

As technology constantly changes and improves, its developments impact the way we understand and conceive simplicity.

For starters, technology is increasingly able to hide complicated processes so that we – the users – see only simplicity.

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

In a world full of complex technologies and products, it is simplicity that makes a product or service stand out. It’s therefore crucial that businesses understand how to balance complexity and simplicity, and can implement this understanding in their product designs.

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What is The Laws of Simplicity about?

The Laws of Simplicity consists of a set of “laws” formulated by the author to try to grasp the meaning and essence of simplicity. Along the way, it provides useful advice on how to introduce simplicity to our daily lives, business and product design.

Best quote from The Laws of Simplicity

(...) although the idea of ridding the earth of complexity might seem the shortest path to universal simplicity, it may not be what we truly desire.

—John Maeda

Who should read The Laws of Simplicity?

Anyone who wants to design successful products
Anyone who wants to bring more simplicity into their lives
Anyone in sales or marketing

About the Author

John Maeda is a graphic designer, computer scientist and visual artist, professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, and founder of the SIMPLICITY Consortium at the MIT Media Lab. He has also authored a number of books, including the critically acclaimed Design by Numbers.

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