Innovation and the Simple Life

As John Maeda points out in his bestselling book The Laws of Simplicity, companies can unlock a tremendous amount of innovation by embracing the principles of simplicity.  There are the obvious examples from Apple and Google, as well as numerous other examples from the likes of IKEA and Bang & Olufsen. Some of the most interesting examples, though, are only tangentially related to business. For example, the Japanese culinary tradition of omakase, in which master sushi chefs choose every element of the menu for guests (literally, "let the chef decide"), is a clever form of simplicity. The Laws of Simplicity is a deceptively breezy little book - Maeda intentionally limited the book to 100 pages in order to encourage as many people as possible to learn about the basic principles of simplicity. (Elsewhere in the book, Maeda laments the size of many instruction manuals for digital products that overwhelm the reader, so the size of the book is keeping with the theme of simplicity.)

Formerly at the MIT Media Lab, John Maeda is now at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. As a result, his thoughts and musings on simplicity have migrated from the popular Laws of Simplicity blog to a new RISD blog.

Comments

[Lee]

As Einstein said:
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler!
Visit this kink for a nice example of simple thinking:
http://www.sitsite.com/blog/2008/09/simple-but-not-simpler/

[Sarah Smith]

Keeping it simple is important when you are developing your company. One of the simplest things you can do is listen to your customers. It goes with saying that they are KEY to your success. I recently ran across a blog that I will share here and it's a good example of simply helping us see simplicity : http://www.work-from-home-job.com/blog/?p=105
Thanks for the insightful blog,
Sarah Smith

[Yauhan Mehta]

Greetings Endlessinnovation team!!

I was browsing through your website and exploring your thoughts on Creativity and Innovation. I enjoyed reading several of your blogs and I felt that your ideas on Innovation were quite insightful. I am an Innovation Research Assitant at The DeSai Group- a consulting firm thats focuses on the domains of Strategy-Driven Innovation™, Leadership, Learning and Execution capabilities for continuous growth and optimal business results. Feel free to visit us at http://www.desai.com

I would like to take the liberty to welcome you to our “Community of Friends” at the DeSai Group. We look forward to inviting you in on-going research and collaborative conversations in the future.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best Regards,

Yauhan Mehta
Innovation Research Assistant
ymehta@desai.com / (860)-233-0011 x818
The DeSai Group: http://www.desai.com
Blog & Downloads: http://www.strategydriveninnovation.com