For us Designers great design means that it is simple looking, easy to understand and reduced to just a few functional buttons. We call it “form follows function“. Apple products are a great example of pure and clean design and at the same time, they are very user-friendly and sexy looking. But there is another aspect of “Less is more“ in the field of Design when it comes down to creativity. You can challenge yourself by reducing the number of tools you are working with. Limitations will force you to look for effective solutions and a good result.
Since I am working in China, my wife and my two sons visited me there for about a month. Besides my clothes and a few household items, there was almost nothing in my sparely furnished apartment. We had some pencils, copy paper, a scissor, one roll of tape, 4 colors of playdough, and every other day there was an empty toilette paper role… And that was it! It is also important to note that we hadn’t set up the television or used other electronic devices. We only connected with the music system every once in a while. And I have to say: it was the most creative and challenging time for my kids ever. They came up with so many cool ideas, they never would have thought about before. They did incredible paintings, built some small objects or models with the paper rolls and playdough and had tons of ideas for self-made toys. The limited amount of things helped them to concentrate on the few things they had. They were not distracted by two many different things or possibilities.
So why not use your next holiday as an opportunity to achieve minimalism. A little bit more of having less. Challenge yourself and your family and take just a few hand-picked items with you. You will be amazed by the sparkling creativity around you.
