Less is more

A basic truth of life is that the things we find most elegant are often quite simple.

This is not to say that everything simple is elegant — far from it. Neither is it to say that elegance cannot be complex. But the tendency for elegance and simplicity to correlate has not gone unnoted. Take it from Coco:

Consider the design principle first coined by the US Navy: KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid. Elegance implies no unnecessary parts. Or as we prefer to put it: no gratuitous nothinʼ.

See also Occamʼs Razor.

Again, we are not suggesting that everything must be brutalist or primitive. Or that flat design is always the best way, although skeuomorphism abuse is pandemic. The illusion of depth is one thing; fake wood grain is quite another.

Itʼs more that we agree with the brilliant architect, Mies van der Rohe:

There have been periods throughout human history when design tended toward the rococo. When it comes to cathedrals, that might be desirable.

But in code, pointless additions and needless verbosity are self-defeating. We exacerbate cognitive load for no useful gain in function.

As an obscure Englishman once said:

When in doubt, leave it out.