The Complexity of Simplicity
What makes simplicity difficult to achieve? Luke Wroblewski, Principal Designer on the Search team at Yahoo! identified following possible causes:
- Conflict between perceived simplicity with actual simplicity of usage. What appears as simple might be difficult to use, and what initially looks complex might be easy to use. Unfortunately, this perceived complexity can prevent potential users from discovering the simplicity of a product’s actual use.
- Complexity in balancing the features and information for advanced and average users creating value for company. The features and information that help power participants meet their goals can quickly complicate things for the average user, while simplifying a product to be effective for the average user may penalize the efficiency of power participants—who are arguably a company’s most valuable customers (read also: Power and Simplicity).
- Complexity in making gradual engagement works. Gradual engagement is a methodology used to manage complexity by gradually reveal complexity as users specify when they are ready for it - also known as progressive disclosure. This method in itself requires complex behind-the-scenes considerations in order to be effective.
This complexity, in other word, lies in aligning both perceived and actual simplicity, taking into consideration diverse type of users, making sure the resulting simplicity is appropriate (right interface, right user and at the right time) for their particular needs.