"Simplify, Simplify" - The Complex Needn't Be Complicated

At least not with websites.

Dave Riensche, Art Director

It's not often that someone wishes for complication in their life. To do so might warrant an A&E series where documentary-style cameras and TV-ready psychologists intervene in a manner that exposes real-life protagonists down to their core, resulting in a break-down, then recovery back to normality and wishes for simplicity.

Thoreau said "simplify, simplify." While not many would disagree, it is often thought that simplicity must be sacrificed in the name of complexity. The thought is that if the content of a product, website, whatever, is very complex, surely one must study it to understand it. A complex website cannot be made simple. To do so would be to remove important facets. With so many facets, each a component of a magnificent jewel, simplifying would lead to reduction in quality. To put it simply (that is the theme after all), simplifying the complex is thought to destroy the value.

This isn't entirely inaccurate. Understanding something very complex DOES take time. The mistake is made when the creator of a website assumes that visitors must understand every facet.

Digress with me for a moment.

Picture a Powerpoint presentation. In a black and white world, there are two types. There's the "put it all on one page" method. This is clearly identified by the usage of 50 bullet points on the first slide. The presentation tends to go faster, and the viewers tend to retain little. The other type is the "one slide at a time" method. This is clearly identified by the length of the presentation, which rarely finishes within the allotted time-slot. Viewers tend to retain the first few slides, but not anything after that, as they most likely drift off to a place that isn't dull as all heck within the first 10 minutes.

Powerpoint presentations are difficult, to say the least. Thankfully, we're talking about websites.

When planning a website, the considerations are different. Rather than taking everything the website owner knows about a subject, then cramming it down a visitor's throat, we have the opportunity to offer choice. With choice comes flexibility.

In our first Powerpoint example, all information was dumped on one page. We see websites like this all the time. It's all important, right? You don't want anyone to miss anything. The problem with this method is that instead of visitors getting everything the owner thinks is important, they receive almost nothing. It's called information overload. It's called a needle in a haystack. How can I find what I'm looking for if I have to spend 20 minutes looking for it? Our society doesn't work this way.

Likewise, information cannot be reduced down to one idea. To simply present the needle will most likely turn off all the visitors looking for a specific type of hay.

The solution is to analyze user needs and content. Then organize and segment. Create a hierarchy of information chunks, and a clear pathway between them. Present higher level avenues to your visitors at the opening of the website (homepage) which they can travel down to reach what they are looking for. Shoot for three or four main highways. But always give your visitors the opportunity to warp to another logically related location that isn't on the main path. Users choose the information they want, which means they are more likely to retain it, and return when they want more.

Thoreau also said "our life is frittered away by detail," which is hard to swallow for a designer who believes that quality is in the details. But websites weren't a very big industry in Thoreau's time.