Don Norman, author of such books as The Design of Everyday Things and Emotional Design recently posted a piece called Simplicity Is Highly Overrated. There’s a strong current of defeatism in the article and, frankly, it’s frustrating to hear this coming from a man so many respect. Is this what we’ve come to? Has irrational consumer exuberance won the day? I have my doubts.
Make it simple and people won’t buy. Given a choice, they will take the item that does more. Features win over simplicity, even when people realize that it is accompanied by more complexity.
First off, he predicates his article on the assumption that making simple products is easy—that companies like LG and Samsung could make something dead easy but their marketing departments are steering them away from that ideal. The fact is, making complex things simple is extremely difficult and most companies take the easy way out by adding knobs, dials and buttons.
The iPod is a perfect example of a simple design that still offers powerful features without getting in your way. Those features that are not core to the performance of basic tasks can be plugged in, ensuring that my desire for an FM Radio receiver doesn’t affect your desire for longer battery life.
Second, Norman makes the assumption that there’s only one kind of buyer out there and that you have to have a single product strategy to appeal to them. There is a huge range in what people are willing to buy and many people elect to buy devices that do fewer things well over those that try to be all things to all people. To assume that people cannot make buying decisions based on future needs is, well, overly simplistic.
There will always be a market for solutions that help people get things done efficiently and with a minimum of frustration. Call it elegance, simplicity, or just plain straightforward… But don’t underestimate its power.
UPDATE: Joel Spolsky has written a response to Norman’s original article. He makes some good points, but he fails to address the cost adding new features has on existing ones. TaDa List’s RSS feed does not detract from the overall user experience… Whereas the Zune’s WiFi does reduce battery life for the entire device.