The Laws of Simplicity

Description

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."

Graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist John Maeda is the founder of the SIMPLICITY Consortium at the MIT Media Lab, where he is E. Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences. His work has been exhibited in Tokyo, New York, London, and Paris and is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Smithsonian Institution National Design Award in the United States, the Raymond Loewy Foundation Prize in Germany, and the Mainichi Design Prize in Japan. Professor Maeda maintains the simplicity blog at the MIT Media Lab.

 

描述

終於，我們開始明白簡單等於理智。我們反對過於複雜的技術，有太多選單的DVD播放器，以及附帶75兆字節的「閱讀我」手冊的軟件。iPod的簡潔設計使簡單成為時尚。但有時我們會陷入簡單的矛盾：我們希望某物既簡單易用，又能完成我們可能需要的所有複雜任務。在《簡單法則》中，約翰·馬埃達提供了在商業、技術和設計中平衡簡單和複雜的十條法則，這些法則指導我們如何減少需求，實際上獲得更多。

馬埃達是麻省理工學院媒體實驗室的教授，也是世界知名的平面設計師。他探討了如何重新定義「改進」的概念，使其不總是意味著增加東西。馬埃達的第一條簡單法則是「減少」。我們不必因為能做而添加技術功能。而且，我們擁有的功能必須按照合理的層次組織（法則2），以免用戶被不需要的功能和功能分散注意力。但簡單不是為了簡單而簡單。跳到第9條法則：「失敗：接受有些事情永遠無法變得簡單」。馬埃達在數字時代的簡單指南向我們展示了這個想法如何成為組織和產品的基石，以及如何推動商業和技術。我們可以學會在不牺牲舒適和意義的情況下簡化，並實現第10條法則所描述的平衡。這條法則，馬埃達稱之為「唯一」，告訴我們：「簡單就是減去顯而易見的，增加有意義的」。

平面設計師、視覺藝術家和計算機科學家約翰·馬埃達是麻省理工學院媒體實驗室SIMPLICITY聯盟的創始人，他是該實驗室的E. Rudge和Nancy Allen媒體藝術與科學教授。他的作品在東京、紐約、倫敦和巴黎展出，並被史密森尼學會的庫珀-休伊特國家設計博物館、舊金山現代藝術博物館和紐約現代藝術博物館永久收藏。他獲得了許多獎項，包括美國史密森尼學會國家設計獎、德國雷蒙德·洛伊基基金會獎和日本毎日設計獎。馬埃達教授在麻省理工學院媒體實驗室維護著「簡單」博客。

目錄

簡單=理智 i
法則1 減少 1
法則2 組織 11
法則3 時間 23
法則4 學習 33
法則5 差異 45
法則6 語境 53
法則7 情感 63
法則8 信任 73
法則9 失敗 83
法則10 唯一 89
關鍵1 遠離 90
關鍵2 開放 92
關鍵3 力量 95
生活 99