Sixth Law - Context
The sixth law is CONTEXT – What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral. The author notes that while “narrowness” and “focus” are essentially synonyms, the latter should not always enjoy the positive connotation that it enjoys compared to the former. Maeda himself was counseled by his teacher Nicholas Negroponte to “become a light bulb instead of a laser beam.” In the design realm this entails achieving what he calls “enlightened shallowness” – considering that everything out of focus may in fact be the most important elements in the experience.
It is our culture’s tendency to want to fill in the very white space that designers understand to be a critical aspect of the design experience – nothing is as important as something and “when there is less, we appreciate everything much more.” When there are right amount of white space, we will be able to notice the hierarchy of the content that we want the viewer or user to see.
As with complexity and simplicity, the trick is to find the balance between nothing and something, between directed (which to some is boring) and directionless (which to some equates to being “comfortably lost”). Maeda argues that “complexity implies the feeling of being lost; simplicity implies the feeling of being found.” I find that nothing in life can be extreme which means everything has to be balance in order to achieve the harmony (like the Ying and Yang). If it is too much in either side, it will cause problems.
-mei-
3 years ago