The Simple Side of Complex Design

Renowned graphic designer Paul Rand once said, “Design is so simple; that’s why it is so complicated.”

That quote was sent to me this morning by Mark Gisi, principal of Tabula Creative, who handles all of our marketing.

We, at Myers Constructs, agree with Rand’s statement. We believe that good design is clean, organic, seamless … and it is always a result of hard practice and discipline. A good designer not only has to “look,” but also to “see” what the proper solutions should be.

This reminds me of a thought-provoking article I read recently about Steve Jobs and how Buddhism influenced his products and business approach at Apple. Jobs was very serious about Buddhism. He would go to monasteries for weeks at a time to meditate, which would essentially “reboot” his brain, in order to keep it clear. The author connected how this practice of clearing and uncluttering the mind carried over to Jobs’ approach to running Apple and to the company’s product line itself: clear, simple, unfussy. From the start, Jobs aimed to make the functionality and interface of Apple machines disappear to their users. That, in a nutshell, is what we aim to do at Myers Constructs. We try to make the very complicated elements of good home renovation, design and construction invisible to our customers. We never want them to know or feel the complexities of our process. Instead, we want them to enjoy the experience we mean to deliver. We use great systems to develop and deliver tasteful, stylish projects that are never fussy, dated or complicated looking. We aim to make the process easy and fun, despite what goes on behind the walls or here in the office.

While we are not practicing Buddhists, we are very practiced “lookers” and “seers” of design. And that’s what makes our design solutions so “simple.”

Image: paul-rand.com