I’ve mentioned a few times on here that the more you polish a piece of writing or a speech, the shorter it will generally become. As you refine your points, you can find easier ways to get things across and allow people to understand your point with few words. These great quotes from Blaise Pascal and Woodrow Wilson help to emphasize that point.
However, it’s not just words that can use refinement. Generally speaking, great design has fewer elements than poor design does. This is seen a bit in the cycle of simple, or in the humorous example of how Microsoft perhaps would have designed the original iPod packaging.
Minh D. Tran said it perfectly, using very few words to get their idea across:
“Great design is eliminating all unnecessary details.”
I’ve said before that every web page should have a goal, and that applies to print design, billboards, menus, or anything else you might put together. Determine the goal, and then work to eliminate as many distractions as possible.
