The art of making simple

Simplicity is a journey, not a destination.

As we develop the next version of iD-points, it's tempting to add in a lot more features and functions. In trying to try and meet the exact requirements of everyone, a once elegant solution can become riddled with complexity, and beset with kludges, hacks and workarounds. Giving in to this temptation leads to feature creep, which leads to bloatware, and before you know where you are you've created Microsoft Office.

Taking the path of simplicity is more challenging, but ultimately leads to products and services that cut through the complexity too often associated with computer hardware, software and services, and deliver real benefits to users.

The iPhone could be considered the acme of simplification. Apple have looked at the whole mobile phone experience, from purchase and activation, user experience and functionality. At every point they have thought long and hard about how the process can be simpler, more elegant.

The result is a smart phone that has redefined the market. It's beauty lies as much in what was left out as what has been included. It can almost be a paradigm shift, a new way of thinking.

If products like the iPhone teach us anything, it's that stripping away is incredibly empowering, and ultimately leads to a better user experience, and a better product.

A reading of the Pareto principle tells us that 80% of users only use 20% of the features of an application. The challenge is to create systems that are loose-fit enough to adapt not only to the requirements of different companies, but critically, the changing requirements of any organisation.