Simplicity as Strategy

Good design is innovative
Good design makes a product useful
Good design is aesthetic
Good design helps a product to be understood
Good design is unobtrusive
Good design is honest
Good design is durable
Good design is thorough to the last detail
Good design is concerned with the environment
Good design is as little design as possible
DIETER RAMS

Dieter Rams changed the world of product design with his minimalist philosophy. His products endure as timeless pieces of elegance, functionality, and beauty. His work is described as "ageless" because you cannot tell when it was made. His work is not a product of a time but is timeless. His legacy is felt today by the work of Jonathan Ive over at Apple.

There are a lot of ways to design a product. But over and over, you see that the designs that last are the simple designs. This is because they adhere to that famous dictum, "Form follows function." By keeping the good stuff and removing the crap, you end up with some really cool shit.

As a writer, I learned early on that editing was as important as creation. What you leave out is as important as what you leave in. I have received many compliments on my writing style, but I am able to do something that everyone else should be able to do but can't. I write simply. I don't use a lot of big words. I never try to sound smart. I do not aim for sophistication. I aim for truth.

I call this "writing with balls." I once tutored a pharmacy major in college who was a brilliant student except when it came to writing papers for his English class. I read his work and saw the usual problem. He was trying to sound smart, but he ended up sounding dumb. He was "writing with bullshit." I told him to write in simple declarative sentences. He called it "Dick and Jane" writing. He did as he was told, and he went from an F to an A in that class. The teacher was so impressed with his newfound skills that she read his paper aloud in class. Everyone said it sounded like Ernest Hemingway. My pupil had started writing with balls.

It requires self-confidence to write simple sentences. You have to believe in yourself to take on the world without adjectives and big words. The truth is simple, so you put that out there. And it is devastating. Words can change the world. But those words must be true. In a world full of liars, telling the truth is revolutionary.

People want to lard it up with bullshit. This is because they are afraid. All forms of maximalism and excess come from fear. The hoarder can't throw away their shit. The news junkie is afraid he won't hear the latest news. The McMansion dweller is afraid of having less status than his neighbors. The person who overpacks for a trip contemplates emergencies and necessities that never happen. And the person who overwrites is the one who is afraid of being discovered as being dull and stupid.

I can understand the maximalist impulse completely. As my old man used to tell me, "It is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." I tend to favor Yvon Chouinard's dictum, "The more you know, the less you need." If you apply this to writing, your need for words is inversely proportional to your brains.

The same thing applies to your lifestyle. People buy shit because they are afraid of being seen as poor and broke. The result is that they go broke trying to look rich. Women are more prone to this than men. I have had many girlfriends who would always want to borrow money from me while also harping on my lack of style, my used car, and living in the ghetto. There are other people who would rather earn less in a status job than earn more with a dirty job. I find this to be unbelievably stupid.

Going with what is simple requires courage. In the case of Dieter Rams, it required going against what was fashionable. It meant deciding to be plain and dull. Yet, for all their simplicity, his products defied them all. They are authentic. "Good design is honest."

When choosing simplicity as a life strategy, you only have to ask yourself one question. What is it that scares me? What is my fear? For most people, it could simply be the fear of being bored. For others, it is the fear of the ridicule of other people. For others, it is being in need. Yet, in attempting to escape these fears, their worst fears come true. The expensive car gets repossessed. They have 250 channels of crap to watch. They foreclose on the McMansion. Their creative work looks terrible because it is too damn gaudy.

Simplicity works. The problem is that people don't have the balls to execute on the strategy. They can't be unconventional. They don't have the self-confidence simplicity requires. This is why people often need failure to move on in the direction of simplicity. This is because failure bankrupts your phobias and allows you to move on with courage. Or as Seneca put it, "Disaster is virtue's opportunity." It is my sincere wish that more people would fail. Being a loser is very liberating.

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