Simplicity is... Bliss?

One product that I found appealing due to its complexity would be the Sidekick LX, when it was first introduced to the world. The flipping of the screen always intrigued me, especially after seeing my friends using it during high school. When I first used it, the visibility for the flip was confusing. The screen seems like it can be flipped both ways, but there are hinges on the left side, so it can only flip to the right. Also, the buttons on the sides are not labeled, which made the process even more complicated. After I figured out how to work it though, I decided that I did not need one, because I could find a phone that is less complicated, but with more features. Hence, me and the Blackberry Curve have finally united.

Complexity is justified when the innovative technology becomes comfortable. Drawing back to "Hannah's" interpretation of the correlation between innovation and obselence, once a product becomes the "norm", designers must strive to create something new, something that has not been d0ne before. This is when most designers try to introduce more complex set-ups while keeping easy interfaces. Norman's answer to the question of simplicity is sufficient enough for the rest of this blog, but I guess I will add more."Make it simple and people won’t buy. Given a choice, they will take the item that does more. Features win over simplicity, even when people realize that it is accompanied by more complexity. You do it too, I bet. Haven’t you ever compared two products side by side, comparing the features of each, preferring the one that did more? Why shame on you, you are behaving, well, behaving like a normal person."
Simplicity is only important in terms of use. If you bring a cellular phone without any features, no one will buy. Nowadays, a camera, music player, and internet is standard for any phone. The complexity is needed, but the ease of use is highly appreciated.

"I had a very hard time using a microwave once. It had a plethora of buttons; however I couldn’t find one that simply let you heat something for a designated time. This shows a lack of adequate visibility of a basic button. Instead of the button being located somewhere which made sense or being clearly labeled it was hidden amongst many specialty buttons. This arises from mapping errors as discussed by Norman. If the most used button was mapped in an obvious or central location, it would be easier to identify" - Liz

I found this passage interesting for two reasons. For one, I haven't heard or seen the word plethora used ever since I left New York[that is a good thing]. The second reason would be that I could relate to this situation. My microwave at home has so many buttons, but it is confusing to use. Older models of the microwaves just used the numbers 0-9 and a start button, maybe adding in a time set button here and there. Now, there are only 10 secs, 1 min, 10 min, and 1 hour buttons, along with popcorn, frozen dinner, and other ones. There are so many problems with this set up. First, why would you ever need to put something in the microwave for an hour? Secondly, the specialty buttons that Liz mentioned do not work correctly. The popcorn button puts microwave popcorn under radiation for 2:30 min. By the time it comes out, all of the kernels are burnt. Also, new microwaves introduced the "power levels". I remembered Jeff tried to bring this up in one of the conversations, but no one listened to him. The power levels bring even more confusion to one of the simplest machine created. The main selling point of a microwave was rapid cook time, but if it takes two hours to figure out the set up, it becomes a waste of time.