Work by Rob van Avesaath
Simple Stupid
Why is simplicity so attractive? Let’s be clear, I don’t mean stupidity, which is always in abundance. Stupidity in its purest form takes place when we stop thinking about our actions and follow habit into disaster. The most stupid aspect of our society is that we leave the really important decisions in our lives to a tiny minority. Stupidly, I digress.
Universal Appeal
Simplicity and simple solutions have universal appeal. This is not because most people are stupid and so they enjoy things that are easy to comprehend. A skilled artist or artisan takes a single aspect of our world and strips away all the noise surrounding it, peeling away the layers that hide the true definition to reveal its beauty or charm. True simplicity is why a simple shape draws more interest aesthetically than a complicated one.
So why is this so special and important to us? Perhaps the importance is part of our prehistoric survival system. This might explain why balls, circles, eggs and ovals catch our eye? Apart from a few tropical species most berries, fruits and eggs fall into these categories. We might well still be programmed (or running a sub-programme) to like those shapes so we can find them more easily. Or we might of course have learned to like them, it all depends on the school of thought you subscribe to.
In Love With Simplicity
So we love simplicity and it is widely acknowledged that it is difficult, even complicated, to achieve. Many people can design overcomplicated solutions to problems. But there are only a handful of people who do not settle for the first idea. Who continue to ponder, re-evaluate and question. Their simple solutions become the icons of our society.