App Design: Keeping it Simple!

October 20, 2015

Reading time about 2 minutes

App development has transformed into a complex process where simplicity trumps the features and functionalities. Creating that balance between a powerful application with a rich feature-set and a simple interface is a seemingly hard task. Numerous features, use cases, page flows or app-user interactions can often render the design messy. However, as designers and app developers, what do they do?

The answer to this apparently complicated question is actually quite simple: Keep it simple! Cut the non-essential components and focus on the essential ones.

But, it is easier said than done. How do they simplify a 10-foot long specifications sheet? Can you still manage to keep the design simple? How can you focus on the essential components of the app while maintaining the aesthetics of the UI?

Turns out, it is possible; almost always! Good design emulates the principles of less is more. To quote Dieter Rams, “Good Design is as Little Design as Possible: Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.”

Even Steve Jobs swore by the coda: Design is not what it looks like or feels like. Design is how it works. The constant addition of elements to the app does not solve a problem, it only adds to it.