Been spending a lot of my diminishing reading time reading up on design. Not only am I an aesthetic whore, but I feel that there's a lot to learn in dealing with people in a personal and/or business sense by understanding how to deal with them in a physical sense.
So here's what I've learned lately: as a backlash to the assault-our-senses, stuff-it-all-in clutter that seems to permeate much of today's consumer goods (particularly in my field of mobile communications), a "less is more" school of thought is starting to emerge in product design.
But that ain't the answer. This quote, from design deity Milton Glaser,(visual maestro behind the I Love New York image amongst other cultural iconography) is:
"Less isn't more;
just enough is more."
I, uh, couldn't agree more. Particularly in creating Surprise. For what is Surprise if not the design of an experience? Overdo it and you turn people off; under-do it and you leave 'em nonplussed and yawning.
"Just enough" isn't a compromise when it comes to designing Surprise or products. It's the optimum sweet spot that delivers the unexpected but leaves 'em wanting--aw, here we go again!--more.