The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
Law 1: Reduce
The easiest way to simplify a system is to remove functionality. Today’s DVD, for instance, has too many buttons if all you want to do is play a movie. A solution could be to remove the buttons for Rewind, Forward, Eject, and so forth until only one button remains: Play.
On the one hand, you want a product or service to be easy to use; on the other hand you want it to do everything that a person might want it to do.
By John Maeda, June 12, 2006