Simple Tech

One of my hobby horses that I keep spouting to people around work and in the software community is that software should be simple, easy and pleasant to use. No software program should be overly complex, look ugly or unintuitive. I have found an article on Mac Daily News with comments from Dr. John Maeda from M.I.T. Media lab about his opinions of software and hardware development. He is also of the opinion that more software and hardware products should be easier. A perfect example of an easy to use interface is the older stlyle iPod or the new mini iPod, both have a highly intuitive user interface and layout. The new iPod is not as good on the location of the buttons but is still light years ahead of many other MP3 players on the market today.

User interface and product design go beyond just hardware and software for your PC, similar guidelines must also be applied to web sites, information kiosks or even paper print products. If you look around the web all the best commercial sites are simple, easy to use, visually appealing and provide the required functionality with little fuss or confusion.