Why Subtraction is the most difficult mathematical operation in product design?

Simplicity is not simple. What it needs is persistence! Because of its simplicity, we have designed a Nest thermostat, a treadmill, and a digital video recorder. Because of its simplicity, apple, on the verge of bankruptcy, is thriving. Because of its simplicity, you have used wangfei. Fisher's space pens, Swiss Army knives, and Rolex oysters are simple representatives of the old school. These are simple miracles.

　　

 

Simplicity is not simple. What it needs is persistence! Because of its simplicity, we have designed a Nest thermostat, a treadmill, and a digital video recorder. Because of its simplicity, apple, on the verge of bankruptcy, is thriving. Because of its simplicity, you have used wangfei. Fisher's space pens, Swiss Army knives, and Rolex oysters are simple representatives of the old school. These are simple miracles.

However, despite the original appearance of many simple mechanical miracles, there are already more things.

When I used my parents' first microwave oven, there were at most three keys (top, middle, bottom) and a scheduled button. On the contrary, LG's microwave oven now has up to 33 buttons. Do I choose automatic defrosting or quick thawing? What is the quantity? None of these keys make my popcorn better and better. It is not convenient to use. Why are these products becoming more and more complex?

"Minimalism is about subtraction," said mcmuntello, a design-based author. "We are in a culture of consumption, which means that quality is linked with more and more things. Therefore, designers and manufacturers are convinced that success can be achieved only by providing more things. What if Microsoft claims that the next generation of office software will reduce the number of functions by 75%? This will be useful! But there is no marketing method that will make them succeed ."

Take apple for example. The company was simply saved. Apple started out as an IMAC, and its design was very simple: OS X, iTunes, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. However, as the company grows, it is inevitable that complicated design will be secretly integrated. For newspapers and magazines in IOS apps, to open the newspapers you want to read, you must first open the shelves. What's more, iTunes. The latest 'minimal' version, iTunes11, has a confusing interface because it has a bunch of unnecessary features. Its core functions (that is, listening to songs) are lost in chaos. But for Apple, there is still a lot of hope: a few days ago, the design expert John appointed as the director of the 'man-machine interface ', it shows that Apple has begun to pursue simplicity.

Google is also a company pursuing simplicity. Google has taken the lead in its simple search interface for decades. Simplicity has a powerful impetus for Google. However, when Facebook was involved, Google added some feature buttons that most people were not keen on, which made the search interface messy. For example, when you search for "pizza", all the web pages are spam ads, like Chuck in Google services and news about pizza, which are not clearly displayed in the search results.

As Apple and Google fall into a complex stream, the door is open to more simple competitors such as the streaming music service, ruidi, and emerging search, which have attracted a large number of fans with a simple interface.

The last lesson may come from Microsoft. When it launched the new version of windows, it made an amazing move: it released a version completely different from the flagship version of the product. Win8 has a streamlined interface, full screen application, and no windows or buttons. Concise.

Of course, half of the reason is from this version, and the other half is from the traditional desktop. If you want to run the current software, you have to switch to the original desktop. Confusing-even a bit of conflict. Microsoft's operating system is undoubtedly more complicated.

Simple and Easy to do. But when the market forces you, You need to be calm. This means subtraction rather than addition. In short, this requires a little courage.