Great Visual of Simplification by Reduction

I love this photo – “Understanding how to use a remote is made easier by a friend” – as an example of the power of reduction to make something easier to understand and give people a better experience. Take away all the stuff people don’t need and suddenly instead of fumbling around feeling stupid, they easily start doing what they want.

Also, the instructions are written directly on the remotes. The friend didn’t write seperate notes on a piece of paper saying “press the up and down arrows on the slim remote to change volume”. Instead, the friend wrote directly on the remote: “Volume”. Similarly, seperate “help” files and manuals for software need to die. There are better alternatives such as inline prompts and making a design so obvious and activity-centered that people do not need help files.