Simplicity

“Less, is more”.

“Make it simple, but significant”.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.

I’m sure these quotes made sense to the people who wrote them, but to the rest of us - what in the world does simplicity mean?

Simplicity is, well, simple.

It’s the feeling you get when you see something and think, “I couldn’t have thought of a more obvious way to do it if I tried".

It can be applied to design, writing, film, music, your morning routine, or the way you design your living room for your dinner guests tonight.

To quote Michelangelo, "Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Today I looked back at the first iPhone launch, and I challenged myself to discard any unnecessary design elements. But no matter how hard I tried, there were none. Every design decision is there for a reason, and it shows!

It may look effortless and obvious from the outside, but as anyone who has tried to do anything creative, we know it to be a monumental challenge. It's the extra care and attention to detail that sets our work apart from the mediocre ones.

People may not know exactly why it's better, but they will be able to feel it.