In defense of simplicity

Keep It Simple Redux (Signal vs. Noise)

Nice note and discussion here from Signal vs. Noise. The kick off is from Dr. John Maeda, from M.I.T. Media Lab, and his one-word vision of the future: simplicity. How to get there?
1. Heed cultural patterns. (don't fight them)
2. Be transparent. (easy to understand)
3. Edit. (get rid of feature clutter)
4. Prototype. (make sure it works)

One great point was "what works best is an outer simplicity coupled with access to inner complexity." No matter how much complex stuff is going on under the hood, the outside has to be clear and simple.

Now most of the discussion in the SvN entry is around web and software design, but this point is totally true when it comes to marketing. Too much is overcomplicated. As a marketer, planning is hard, research is hard, campaigns are hard, creative is hard. All of these are supposedly the private realm of "experts." I say bunk. At least as far as your own judgement goes.

At the end of the day, if you can't figure it out with some simple ABCs and XYZs then it's not going to work. No matter how sophisticated all your experts are, if you can't keep it simple, the team won't execute and the target audience won't get it. I'll get off my soapbox now.