The Simplicity Cycle: A Field Guide to Making Things Better Without Making Them Worse

Ward (F.I.R.E.) an Air Force lieutenant colonel, offers an original yet unsatisfying look at how simplicity can improve the usability and beauty of a product. The book proceeds from the observation that the add-ons intended to improve products too often end up weighing them down. Ward admits that we shouldn’t be striving for simplicity as the end goal; we should be striving for quality. But simplicity, in his opinion, is a good path there, and aiming for it can help us strike the right balance. Ward’s intent is to help readers figure out that critical point at which additions become detrimental. Focusing heavily on design, Ward presents concepts that can be plotted on a simple Cartesian plane, such as the simplification slope and the negative goodness slope. Readers may well respond to Ward’s genuine-seeming optimism and enthusiasm, as in his exhortation to “head out into the unknown and make something beautiful,” but his intriguing ideas are ultimately not specific enough to make for a successful business manual. Broadly aimed and highly theoretical, this is a book that feels more like a magazine article run amok. (May)