Simplicity
Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort.Edward de Bono (1933 - 2021)
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.Hans Hofmann (1880 - 1966)
Inside every large program is a small program struggling to get out.C.A.R. Hoare
Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential.Principles of Agile Software Development
The default movement on a software project should be in the direction of taking elements of the software away to make it simpler rather than adding elements to make it more complex.Steve McConnell, "Software Project Survival Guide", 1998
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.John Gall, "How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail", 1977
The single most effective way to make a service as reliable as possible is to make it as simple as possible. Find the simplest solution that meets all the requirements.Limoncelli, Hogan and Strata, "The Practice of System and Network Administration (2nd Ed)", 2007
Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing, layout, processes, and procedures.Tom Peters, business management guru
I know you have 1000 great ideas for things that iTunes could do. And we have 1000 more. But innovation is not about saying "yes" to everything. It's about saying "no" to all but the most crucial features.Steve Jobs (to an Apple user conference)
Simplicity is a deliberate act, one which takes work to maintain and defend in the face of an ever-growing number of feature requests.Rachel Andrew, Selling simplicity, October 2014
In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944)
Developing fewer features allows you to conserve development resources and spend more time refining those features that users really need. Fewer features mean fewer things to confuse users, less risk of user errors, less description and documentation, and therefore simpler Help content. Removing any one feature automatically increases the usability of the remaining ones.Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, "Prioritizing Web Usability", 2006
When deciding whether a feature is necessary, the default answer should be 'No.'Tyler Tate, Smashing Magazine, October 2009
Most software has a tiny essence that justifies its existence, everything after that is wants and desires mistaken for needs and necessities.David Heinemeier Hansson, 37signals
Every application has an inherent amount of irreducible complexity. The only question is who will have to deal with it, the user or the developer (programmer or engineer).Larry Tesler, computer scientist formerly at Apple
Simplicity is the quality of code that is no more complex than required to express the underlying complexity.Andrew Binstock, Dr Dobbs, June 2013
Simplicity - a virtue so rare and essential in design, does not mean want or poverty. It does not mean the absence of any decor, or absolute nudity. It only means that the decor should belong intimately to the design proper, and that anything foreign to it should be taken away.Paul Jacques Grillo, "Form, function, and design", 1975
While it's easy to get distracted about the size and quality of an image, and how we might choose to serve it, often the simplest solution is not to include it at all. After years of gluttonous design practice, in which fast connections and expansive display sizes were an accepted norm, we have got use[d] to filling pages with needless images and countless items of page furniture.
To design more adaptable experiences, the presence of every element needs to be questioned, for its existence requires additional data to be downloaded or futher complexity within a design system.
Paul Robert Lloyd, Responsive Images: What We Thought We Needed, December 2012
As designers, we want to create great user experiences through simplicity and clarity.
What is simplicity and clarity? It's the user knowing exactly what to do, and how to do it, with a minimum of effort. Achieving this kind of user experience means finding the right balance—not just going flat for flatness's sake.
When it comes to forms—frustrating experiences even at the best of times—it means knowing that less isn't always simpler.
Jessica Enders, Flat UI and Forms, A List Apart, October 2013
Beauty is highly desirable but simplicity and usefulness are the overwhelming fashion of our age. Just because it's beautiful does not mean it's useful.Gerry McGovern, Beautiful does not always mean usable, May 2012
The customer demands simplicity, that organizations organize around them. Easy to use is a customer tsunami ripping across the world. Ease of use and simplicity must now be at the heart of organizational strategy.Gerry McGovern, How the web impacts strategy, March 2012
I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.Charles Mingus (1922-1979)
Complexity is acceptable as long as it is intelligible and necessary. We want to avoid needless complications.Donald Norman, "Living with Complexity", 2011
It's centrally important to seek simplicity, and especially to avoid making things hard to use or understand. But if we want to make things that are usefully simple without being truncated or simplistic, we have to recognise and respect complexity—both in the design problems we address, and in the way we do our work.Erin Kissane, Content Strategist in A List Apart, December 2011
Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate (plurality should not be posited without necessity).William of Ockham (ca. 1285-1349) Franciscan monk
It is awfully important to know what is and what is not your business.Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)
A child of five would understand this. Send somebody to fetch a child of five.Groucho Marx (1895 - 1977)