leadership design January 3, 2025

I came across John Maeda’s 10 Laws of Simplicity back in 2011 and I think they have stood the test of time. Here’s a link to his site: The Laws of Simplicity / John Maeda.

Ten Laws of Simplicity John Maeda

1 Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction

2 Organize: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer

3 Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity

4 Learn: Knowledge makes everything simpler

5 Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other

6 Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral

7 Emotion: More emotions are better not less

8 Trust: In simplicity we trust

9 Failure: Some things can never be made simple

10 The One: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful