Manifesto
Laws of Simplicity Process Book
Matt Wierbinski Jason Dilworth SUNY Fredonia Spring 2016
This is a documentation of the thought process involved in the designing of: A poster using the same statement by Maeda as above. It communicates to the viewer how he/she can achieve simplicity to live “the good life.” A presentation of the tenth Law of Simplicity using the statement made by John Maeda, “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” The final product is an example of how presentations for any circumstance should be designed.
Research // 1 Poster // 5 Presentation // 11 Credits // 31
Research
I read John Maeda’s interesting book, The Laws of Simplicity. This book deals with the manifest of simplicity in the modern world. It doesn’t just deal with design, but rather technology, business, and life. There are several ideas that forced me to think differently about the world.
Research // 2
To further my research, I found this Ted Talk by John Maeda. He brings up some interesting points about how simplicity works in our lives. But he also says that humans love complexity. The complex sky or complex relationships for example. In my point of view, I lean towards an affection for simplicity. Research // 3
Research // 4
Poster
SIMPLICITY in your life simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain. – John Maeda
HEALTH
WEALTH
work for passion, not for money. read books on wealth. find mentors and learn from them.
LOVE
build relationships. read books on love. appreciate everything.
THE GOOD LIFE
watch what you eat. read books on health. work out three times a week.
HAPPINESS help others. read books on happiness. be yourself.
I decided to create a poster that used simplicity in design to show simplicity in your life. Health, wealth, love, and happiness are the four pillars of the good life. Although complex to achieve, the result will make your life much simpler. The problem with this design is that it doesn’t achieve the simplicity factor as effective as it should, so I discarded this poster. Poster // 6
SIMPLICITY SIMPLICITY in your life in your life “simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain.” – John Maeda
“simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain.” – John Maeda
HEALTH
HEALTH
WEALTH
WEALTH
watch what you eat. read books on health. work out three times a week.
build relationships. read books on love. appreciate everything.
HAPPINESS help others. read books on happiness. be yourself.
work for passion, not for money. read books on wealth. find mentors and learn from them.
LOVE
build relationships. read books on love. appreciate everything.
THE GOOD LIFE
LOVE
THE GOOD LIFE
work for passion, not for money. read books on wealth. find mentors and learn from them.
watch what you eat. read books on health. work out three times a week.
HAPPINESS help others. read books on happiness. be yourself.
A variation of the poster. I didn’t think the blue lines at the bottom right hand corner were necessary. After taking them out, I still wasn’t content with the look of the poster.
Poster // 7
SIMPLICITY in your life simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain. – John Maeda
HEALTH watch what you eat. read books on health. work out three times a week.
wealth work for passion, not for money. read books on wealth. find mentors and learn from them.
love build relationships. read books on love. appreciate everything.
Happiness help others. read books on happiness. be yourself.
Changing the dimensions and layout of the poster achieved simplicity better, but still not the greatest solution. I wanted to make more breathing room for the text because it would make it more visually appealing.
Poster // 8
WEALTH
simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain.
in your life
SIMPLICITY in your life
SIMPLICITY
in your life
SIMPLICITY Poster // 9
HEALTH watch what you eat.
– john maeda
work for passion, not
HEALTH
WEALTH
LOVE
HAPPINESS
watch what you eat.
work for passion, not for money.
build relationships.
help others.
read books on health.
read books on wealth.
read books on love.
read books on happiness.
work out three times a week.
find mentors and learn from them.
appreciate everything.
be yourself.
read books on health.
work out three times a week.
read books on wealth
find mentors and learn
the good life.
the goo
simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain.
Adding color gave the poster that level of appeal I wanted to strive for. – john maeda
I was inspired by the Magma colors. They use blue, yellow, HEALTH WEALTH Sketchbook LOVE HAPPINESS and red, which makes a simple and beautiful sketchbook. watch what you eat.
work for passion, not for money.
build relationships.
help others.
read books on health.
work out three times a week.
read books on wealth.
read books on love.
read books on happiness.
find mentors and learn from them.
appreciate everything.
be yourself.
the good life.
simplicity is about living a life with more enjoyment and less pain. – john maeda
H
LOVE
HAPPINESS
for money.
build relationships.
help others.
.
read books on love.
read books on happiness.
n from them.
appreciate everything.
be yourself.
od life.
The audience for this poster is mainly males and females ages twenty to forty years old who have a desire to achieve the good life. Following this simple guide will provide access to the life that the majority of people fail to live. Designing this has taught me what I need to do to live like this. I will use this poster to inspire me to always take care of my health, wealth, love, and happiness. Poster // 10
Presentation
The Laws of Simplicity Law 10: The One I decided to not create a booklet for this portion of the project because I thought creating a presentation was much more needed. I wanted to model how visual presentations should be designed to effectively be used along with what the speaker is saying.
Presentation // 12
– Obvious
– Obvious + Meaningful
– Obvious + Meaningful = Simplicity
Presentation // 13
Japanese Rugby
Japanese Rugby Predictable
Japanese Rugby Predictable Intuition vs. Intellect.
Presentation // 14
Hopelessy Subtle
Hopelessy Subtle S implicit y
Presentation // 15
Key 1: Away
Key 1: Away + appears like – by
Key 1: Away + appears like – by +
Presentation // 16
<1% of processing capabilities I noticed that so many students, professors, public speakers, etc. donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to design their presentations without it being a distraction for the audience. They usually have either twenty bullet points, ten lines of text, or pixelated images. None of these achieve simplicity.
Presentation // 17
Presentation // 18
Revolution Devolution
Revolution Devolution Data Terminal Presentation // 19
Software as a service
Software as a service LDR Presentation // 20
Key 2: Open
Key 2: Open Openness simplifies complexity Presentation // 21
Open products
Open products Intellectual property
Open products Intellectual property Open Source Presentation // 22
Presentation // 23
Power of many > Power of few The typefaces these people have decided to use is a sin. I’ve noticed typefaces like Comic Sans, Arial, Papyrus, or Bradley Hand are surprisingly used so much in presentations and I’m not sure why. I’ll admit, I remember using these when I was in middle school, but I didn’t know any better. Maybe these people don’t know any better, either. Presentation // 24
API
API Open access to running components Presentation // 25
Key 3: Power
Key 3: Power Use less, gain more Presentation // 26
Self-powered, wireless switch
Self-powered, wireless switch No batteries
Self-powered, wireless switch No batteries Push of a button
Presentation // 27
Use less energy
Use less energy Use energy wisely
Use less energy Use energy wisely Use less, gain more
Presentation // 28
3 Keys
3 Keys Away
3 Keys Away Open
3 Keys Away Open Power
Presentation // 29
To achieve simplicity in presentations, the tenth law of John Maeda’s Laws of Simplicity is the secret to success. “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” For this presentation, I decided to subtract all the unnecessary sentences from Law 10, and add the meaningful points Maeda makes. Helvetica Bold is used as the typeface because it is extremely legible and can does nothing other than state the information. It isn’t distracting or painful to look at like other typefaces. It makes sense to use. The white background works well because it is refreshing to see. Most presentations have floral, gradients, or other PowerPoint-style backgrounds. Just seeing white with black Helvetica Bold type makes the presentation look professional without the use of anything else. Presentation // 30
Credits
Jason Dilworth John Maeda The Laws of Simplicity Graphic Design Classmates Adobe InDesign Helvetica Neue Regular/Bold
Credits // 32