Famous philosophers of Ancient Greece Plato and Aristotle devoted their life to one goal– helping people to reach a state of what is termed as ‘Eudaemonia’. In Greek philosophy, Eudaemonia means a state of fulfillment or achieving the best conditions possible for a human being. But that’s the beauty of being human that we are not flawless. We are imperfect, that’s the reason we are never satisfied. So the state of Eudaemonia seems like a formidable goal to me.
Among several other reasons, the complexities of human life and our curiosity towards it is a prime reason for our dissatisfaction. Complexity, like the term art or value, is hard to define, although most of us recognize it when we see it. Complex bias is the belief that complex objects are better than a simple one. The term denotes an irrational preference for complexity over simple things that may be more affordable. So, what do you think, do you have a complexity bias? A cell phone, a car or even a television, will you prefer one with just a basic functionality or several cool features. Somewhere I guess we human enjoy complexity more than anything.
People say they want a simple life. The path to live a simple life is to let go of everything. But, what will be the fun in doing that or what will be the challenge? What will happen to our brains then? We don’t necessarily want to give away the complex parts rather the complicated ones, like the complicated relationships, thoughts, habits, and people.
Complex and complicated are two different things. And it’s not only true for life or humans but also for design. Complexity is just how the world works. Complexity in design depends on how we designers perceive it and think about it. Are the designs that we are calling simple are actually simple or another deception that we are creating for our users? Or do our users actually need a simple product?