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One of the causes of feature creep in products like consumer electronics is that when customers are making purchase decisions, they’ll likely choose the one with the most features. “But, when they were asked to use the digital device, so-called ‘feature fatigue’ set in. They became frustrated with the plethora of options they had created, and ended up happier with a simpler product.”
The new postal price restrictions on thickness and whether the envelope is “flat-machinable” or not seem like the USPS passing along internal problems to their customers, the same crappy stuff that banks and the airlines do. Keep the process simple…we don’t care about your technology can and can’t do. Figure it out.
CNN International redesigned their on-screen graphics. You can see the definite influence of lo-fi web design here…those screens look like a web site. I’d love to see these in action.
Update: A UK firm called Kemistry did the work.
The beauty of simplicity. “Blame the [lack of simplicity on the] closed feedback loop among engineers and industrial designers, who simply can’t conceive of someone so lame that she can’t figure out how to download a ringtone; blame a competitive landscape in which piling on new features is the easiest way to differentiate products, even if it makes them harder to use; blame marketers who haven’t figured out a way to make ‘ease of use’ sound hip.”
Apple’s obsession with simplicity has gotten a bit out of control with the latest release of OS X.
Mark Bittman cooks homemade food in challenging America’s top chefs. Daniel Boulud laughed at the complexity of Bittman’s dish, but gave an 8/10 in taste…and it only took 10 minutes to prepare.
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