2 interesting article about the interplay between good design, engineering, complexity and simplicity. One from IEEE Computer Journal Complexity in Design and the other in Fast Company Simplicity + Technology = Sweet Success. Both discuss the engineering discipline of application of technology and how sometimes, technology becomes too much.
From Fast Company: "The old design mantra "Less is more" has never been truer than in the world of technological gadgetry, Lovelady says. As consumers balk at the steep learning curve attached to each software upgrade and "time-saving" appliance, manufacturers and engineers are ceding power to designers who insist on simplicity, elegance, and user friendliness, even if it means sacrificing some technological wizardry."
From Computer: "Have you ever taken a close look at an acoustic grand piano? The complicated mechanism in which the player’s fingers cause hammers to fall on strings, which are damped to varying degrees and at varying times, is exquisitely subtle and quite involved. Perhaps there’s a way to simplify that mechanism without sacrificing the combination of tone and playability that has selectively evolved over hundreds of years. But it seems likely that most of a piano’s complexity is necessary because of how our fingers, feet, and ears work. A skilled performer can coax thunderous waves of sound or delicate susurrations; the mechanics of the keys have the requisite dynamic range. This complexity works."
Strive to avoid creeping complexity, the kind that arises from unintended interactions among multiple unrelated design decisions. Eschew complicated machinery that isn’t clearly and provably necessary to attain one or more of the major project goals. If you aren’t sure you need some logic in your design, keep asking questions until someone either justifies it or agrees to toss it overboard.
Entropy always drags a project in the direction of increasing complexity; things never get simpler on their own. Except for bad wine. On Tuesdays."
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