The Simplicity Cycle, circa 1984

I continue to encounter examples that support the ideas behind my design book, The Simplicity Cycle. The latest is from the always fascinating Modern Mechanix blog, highlighting an interview from Feb 1984. In the article, Steve Jobs says:

“If you read the Apple’s first brochure, the headline was “Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication.” What we meant by that was that when you first attack a problem it seems really simple because you don’t understand it. Then when you start to really understand it, you come up with these very complicated solutions because it’s really hairy. Most people stop there.

But a few people keep burning the midnight oil and finally understand the underlying principles of the problem and come up with an elegantly simple solution for it. But very few people go the distance to get there”.

Yup, that's the core concept of The Simplicity Cycle, in just a few lines. Of course, there's a lot more nuance and other elements to the whole thing, but Jobs described the main concept pretty well right there.

I'm still giving away the PDF version for free, so swing on over and join the 727 other people who have downloaded it already.

It's easy...