Less is More

 

 

 

Less is more.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

 

 

It has been proven that when it comes to basic maths, most humans relate to and enjoy performing addition more than subtraction.

 

I have learnt one or two things about the power of distraction and in this piece I espouse the danger that we face when we fail to maintain discipline with respect to pruning. Anything that takes one's time surely takes part of one's life. It therefor means that we need to be deliberate and disciplined in maintaining a very strict regime of simplicity. Everything in life must be within the premise of reasonability. This is key and of noblest recommendation.

 

When I decided to drop my Blackberry phone, it seemed very unlikely and highly preposterous that I could survive. As a tech junkie that I was (I am finally getting over devices), I had developed such a deep level of fondness for the device so much so that it controlled my very being. You needed to see me literally jump to the phone at the sight of the legendary beep signaling arrival of a new BB message. Research in Motion (RIM) had me locked on. I was a level 5 junkie to say the least. I must assert in very unequivocal terms that I was only a victim of my own habit. I threw all caution into the winds by not regulating the grip it had on me. I abused this device and it almost had me.

 

This piece is not about BB. It is not even about being a tech junkie. I don't have any acrimony against RIM or its product (BB). My bone of contention is essentially about cutting to size everything that constitutes in whatever way distractions to living. A man who does not have a rule over his spirit is like a city without walls. Typical of distractions, they never announce themselves in a sinister form but the truth is that destruction lurks and looms dressed in attractive garments. Expediency is the ultimate rule and cure for excessive living.

 

We live in very interesting times with a hallmark of great deluge of information. You probably are familiar or have heard of the term #BIGDATA. This term #BIGDATA refers to nothing other than a state of information overload. This generation has too much information. So much for information age. Today, the challenge in many businesses is the overabundance of information. In fact, a wise man recently referred to the state of the world as a classic case of knowledge constipation. We know too much.

 

Experts in the field of brand management have consistently posited that the greatest challenge for entities and brands in this productivity era is cutting through the immense clutter to achieve differentiation. Software developers have long suffered from the addition cause. Most software companies today are beginning to look for way to prune down the features of their products so as not to create an innocuous avalanche of superfluity and irrelevance. I recently saw a feature presentation by the creative director of a foremost fashion house Joel by Lisa sharing the new focus of the fashion house who has decided to embrace minimalism.

 

Simplicity is indeed fast becoming the new standard. Brands like Apple have long distinguished themselves by embracing the minimalistic philosophy of design which in turn has helped them to enchant their customers. Apple's minimalistic approach to design is what ultimately differentiates it from its competition. The minimalistic approach to design is not unconnected to the German Bauhaus tradition. Bauhaus tradition inspired the German engineering technique has created iconic brands like Mercedes Benz and even Volkswagen.

 

There is a lot of noise today and the brands that get to really achieve differentiation are those that embrace and practice simplicity as a discipline. They never compromise this virtue in a world that seems to favour addition as against subtraction.

 

We must remind ourselves that the toilet is equally as important as the kitchen. Less is truly more.


Image Credit: Google Image