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On simplicity

Video and transcript of my presentation at SPLASH Onward! 2024
Conference presentation of my essay “A New Cognitive Perspective on Simplicity in System and Product Design” at SPLASH Pasadena 2024.
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Stefan Lesser
Upcoming paper and presentation on simplicity
I’ll be presenting my Onward! Essay about simplicity at Splash Pasadena 2024 on October 24th.
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Stefan Lesser
On Simplicity #8 • Identity
Good software helps us do things more conveniently and efficiently. Great software helps us do things we couldn’t do before and become people we…
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Stefan Lesser
On simplicity #7 • Unfolding complexity
Something truly simple and beautiful requires a strong identity. To create that, we need to become tangled up in our creation as we evolve with it…
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Stefan Lesser
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On simplicity #6 • Reducing complexity
Complicating things is easy. Complexifying things is beautiful.
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Stefan Lesser
On Simplicity #5 • Hiding complexity
We figured out a way to scale software development to create ever more utility and power. Unfortunately, this also seems to always create a lot of…
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Stefan Lesser
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On simplicity #4 • Reciprocal realization
Design is a process of reciprocal realization. If we want to arrive at something simple, we need to participate in this fundamental process of mutual…
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Stefan Lesser
On simplicity #3 • Familiarity
We live in a culture that favors generic, universal, context-independent solutions that scale. But we long for specific, local, context-dependent…
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Stefan Lesser
On simplicity #2 • Meaning-ful design
What can we do to make things so easy to understand that it just needs a “click” and then we “get” it?
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Stefan Lesser
On simplicity…
How I used to think about simplicity. And how my thinking has evolved.
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Stefan Lesser
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