Quality simple vs quantity simple

Simplification is an ideal we think we aspire to, whether we are talking about the simple life, a clean uncluttered aesthetic, truth to materials, or just efficiency and economy. 

In his book Simplicity: a matter of design,¹ Per Mollerup identifies several paradoxes of simplicity: that simple processes are enabled by complex tools, that redundant information makes for more reliable understanding, and that to master some eventually simple actions requires learning. Mollerup gives the example of the BMW iDrive control. It offers drivers a single knob to control more than 700 functions, but this physical simplicity results in cognitive complexity.

Information designers have for years railed against the conflation of simplicity with brevity. Simplified explanations frequently grow in length, as you take time to explain things, or pace the user’s experience through white space and page breaks.²

Per came up with brilliant terminology to describe this paradox: ‘quality-simple’ and ‘quantity-simple’.

He gives an example from furniture design. Aesthetically simple modernist cupboard doors, with no visible hinges or handles, are quantity-simple. But we need to explore them and learn how to open the doors by sliding them, or pressing a particular part. That’s fine in our own kitchen, but disastrous if they contain emergency equipment.

The quantity-simple doors have no perceivable affordance or readability. Doors with conventional handles are instantly readable, so are quality-simple.

1. Mollerup, P. (2016). Simplicity: A matter of design. BIS Publishers.

2. Waller, R. (2011). Simplification: What is gained and what is lost (Technical paper 1). Simplification Centre.

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