Simplicity
by Robert Barham

We tend to understand the "simplicity" design principle in the context of the arts. However, the principles of design apply wherever information must be presented, technical situations are not excepted.

To the right is the speedometer of a Geo Prizm. In a digital age, Toyota (the manufacturer) has maintained a traditional analog interface. I don't have marketing data to prove it, however, I can imagine that the reason is that the dial communicates more information than the speed. The driver can see the needle climb, for example, so he has an idea of how quickly he is accelerating. Programmers define simplicity as the quality that enables you to do more things with less code. Perhaps the same definition applies to instruments.

In commercial settings, the Morning Star communicates from a mythical vocabulary to convey any number of ideas. In America, it is a patriotic symbol (how interesting that the symbol of the goddess Ishtar should now communicate a patriarchic message).

This particular emblem is on the fasciae board of a strip mall; it is as if making money in the strip mall is equated to patriotism.

The power of simple designs might be a natural phenomenon; there might be something inside of us that so yearns for simplicity in a complex world, that starkly contrasting images like this gum on the sidewalk that is so much like our own lives- holding fast in a high-traffic world, exposed, flattened, until we harden and become a part of the system, finally fading and leaving only a stain as mute witness to our time here-

Anyway, Piagetian theory would seem to support this. If our minds constantly develop schemata to explain the world, should naturally be drawn to simpler explanations.

By using the flagpoles like fence posts, this bank creates something of an island... perhaps of security, perhaps of integrity, certainly of reliability. Again, note the use of the patriotic symbols (flags) in a commercial context.

A simple column of credit card logos lets patrons of this restaurant know at a glance that they need not make a trip to the ATM.

Examples of simplicity in online museum

"Inverted Q"
Claes Oldenburg
Akron Art Museum
http://www.akronartmuseum.org/

"Inverted Q" is a cast cement statue of the letter "Q" inverted and painted pink. Letters are themselves symbols, abstractions of ideas. Q is particularly mystical one, as it symbolizes the sexual act as such, it has been suppressed in languages such as Spanish, where the "cu" diphthong stands in for the aspirated "q". Painting it pink and inverting it could symbolize many things. It could represent a reversal in gender roles. It could be an advertisement for homosexuality. It could represent sexual repression. The point is that there is a lot of meaning packed into what amounts to a very simple object.

"Wisdom"
Helen Frankenthaler
Akron Art Museum
http://www.akronartmuseum.org/

"Wisdom" uses simplicity in color. It is an acrylic painting on canvas. A green "sea" meets a yellow "shore", and in the middle is a pinkish, heart-shaped design. I'll leave interpretations to the experts, but it demonstrates how simple, high-contrast color schemes can make for dramatic effects.

Bibliography

Principles of Design.Simplicity. http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Principles.html
Simplicity?!. http://www.agda.asn.au/dm/observations/Simpl.html
Design. http://www.internettime.com/itimegroup/design.htm