There is something pleasing about that title isn’t there? It conjures up clutter-free images of relaxed control over something that could have been busy and untidy. It implies that whatever product or area it refers to is new and untouched, or that it at least feels like it is that way because of it’s simplicity.
Companies in recent years have used this impression to their huge advantage. The obvious example in technology is Apple, whose software and hardware reduced the complexity of user interface. But less obvious examples go almost unnoticed. Take the area of skincare, where ‘Simple’ products have flourished because of their name, packaging, and implied fundamentality. Another example is ‘Dove’, a soap whose marketing makes it seems more ‘white’ and ‘clean’, even more ‘moisturising’ than any other soap despite it’s chemical indifference.
Clearly this image resonates with our affinity for compartmentalisation; our brain can deal with things better when they are categorised and simplified, therefore it likes it when things are like that already.
But there should be an element of truth beneath it. There should be genuine simplicity and ease of use. After all, we all want the chores of life to be negligible, the inconveniences to vanish, the interfaces to be seamless so that we can get on and be efficient with our 80 years on the planet.
The internet is taking over swathes of human interaction with information. This is why it must be seamless. When looking for something, you should be able to use your most innate skills to identify it from the choices presented to you. And that interface should be clean, simple, and genuinely intuitive.
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