Design principle: Take things away until the design breaks, then put that last thing back in.
Interpretation
Simplify design by removing unnecessary elements until it is made functional.
This quote emphasizes the importance of minimalism in design. It suggests that by continuously stripping away excess components, designers can identify the essential elements that contribute to functionality and aesthetics, ensuring that only what truly matters stays in the final product.
In practice
In a design meeting, one might say, 'Remember Alan Cooper's principle: we should take things away until the design breaks.'
Run for your lives-the computers are invading. Awesomely powerful computers tackling ever more important tasks with awkward, old-fashioned interfaces. As these machines leak into every corner of our lives, they will annoy us, infuriate us, and even kill a few of us. In turn, we will be tempted to kill our computers, but we won't dare because we are already utterly, irreversibly dependent on these hopeful monsters that make modern life possible.
To our human minds, computers behave less like rocks and trees than they do like humans, so we unconsciously treat them like people.... In other words, humans have special instincts that tell them how to behave around other sentient beings, and as soon as any object exhibits sufficient cognitive function, those instincts kick in and we react as though we were interacting with another sentient human being.
If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.
No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it.
We won't do something different for different's sake. Designers cave in to marketing, to the corporate agenda, which is sort of, 'Oh, it looks like the last one; can't we make it look different?' Well no, there's no reason to.
My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.
Design needs to be plugged into human behavior. Design dissolves in behavior.
It is not how much empty space there is, but rather how it is used. It is not how much information there is, but rather how effectively it is arranged.
Good design should be available to everyone - and I do mean everyone. What I spent on the wheelchair I'm in could buy a small Mercedes. It's not only unfair to me; it's unfair to someone who's indigent but has the same needs. My goal is to make all objects affordable.
Designers stand between revolutions and everyday life. Theyβre able to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and society and convert those changes into objects and ideas that people can understand.
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