This Is Locomotion - Design, Code, and News

A few choice words on the importance of reducing clutter from the master of marketing, Seth Godin:

Digital media expands. It’s not like paper, it can get bigger.

As digital marketers seek to increase profits, they almost always make the same mistake. They continue to add more clutter, messaging and offers, because, hey, it’s free.

One more link, one more banner, one more side deal on the Groupon page.

Economics tells us that the right thing to do is run the factory until the last item produced is being sold at marginal cost. In other words, keep adding until it doesn’t work any more.

In fact, human behavior tells us that this is a more permanent effect than we realize. Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. More clutter isn’t free. In fact, more clutter is a permanent shift, a desensitization to all the information, not just the last bit.

And it’s hard to go backward.

More is not always better. In fact, more is almost never better.

While I have been a stalwart fan of introducing simplicity into all the websites we design, I have also been a fan of putting more effort into leading a more simple life. On that note I have recently discovered an excellent blog on how to lead a more simple life that I thought I would share. Think Simple Now is a blog dedicated to simplicity, creativity, clarity and happiness. I would highly recommend giving the posts a read through as they are both thorough and insightful.