Deloitte: «Make simplicity the goal for 2007».
As reported by CBC news citing Deloitte, a consulting firm: “Companies that focus on minimizing product complexity may achieve greater success than competitors boasting superior, but less accessible, technology”.
IDC adds “Products and services that address consumers’ needs rather than engineers’ whims are likely to be more successful”.
That’s right, once again : less is more. The right function at the right place (or moment), the right customization if any, fluidity, space, etc. It’s so obvious that one may think there’s no need to mention, but we all experience the strict opposite in our dayly relationship with machines.
As obvious as it is, I’m very pleased to read this. Technology is not going to impress customers any longer. Same fate happened to special effects in movies. Today nobody is seriously making a movie based only on SFX because spectators now know that anything can be displayed on a screen. Spectators needs are back to basics: good story, emotions, etc. shortly stated: they want art and entertainment, not technical prowess. They were fun at the beginning, like the greasy engines of our grandfathers’ cars. Now we want transportation. We want to do things on our computers, we do not want to do some internet.
The other good news here is that simplicity, this Holy Grail, is achieved only through the hard work of tech guys, designers and interface guys like myself. It’s a bright future !
You can also read this article on Mercury News: As the technology advances, new products keep growing more complex.
this post made me smile a bit. i subscribed to your RSS feed and saw that you write a lot about usability and simplicity. you could team up with 37Signals and evangelize simplicity!
by the way, i completely agree with simplicity, although i think it is just a personal taste of mine. i call it minimalism. stripping away clutter until everything feels perfect. Altough i have to say clients dont really understand what i am talking about and i sometimes end up with flash and funny colors at the end. well, i guess you have to have a living.