Design for obviousness

“Complexity is the enemy of ubiquity.”

This great line from Chris Anderson brought to mind the following Einstein quote:

“Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

I love these as a way to frame product decisions.

Everyone knows the downsides of complexity. The problem is that few people have the discipline to say no and fewer will accept that their app is complex.

Less people will acknowledge that there’s downside to being overly simple. Often, this is a case where design-in-how-it-looks wins out over design-in-how-it-works and a feature is delivered in a way that is ‘too cute by half.’

Too complex overwhelms. Too simple baffles. The sweet spot? Obviousness. What can be done, and how to do it, should be clear to the user.