The second part of 'Migrating the Monolith' was scheduled for release, but it has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts. In the meantime, enjoy this article, which focuses on my personal quest for simplicity and how I came to terms with it.
Recently I somewhat randomly watched Behind The Scenes Of Notion's INSANE Design (w. Notion Team), a video on Notion’s design psychology and their endless pursuit of simplicity in the user experience of their product, which led me to this week’s topic: the Sisyphean struggle behind it all.
The Essence in itself
When viewed through a narrow lens, simplicity appears to be as ambiguous a term as clean when it comes to its pure definition. Yet it emerges with distinct characteristics that elevate its status as a desirable yet ephemeral goal in both design and development.
In our individual work and lives, we strive for simplicity, somewhat unknowingly forming a consensus on its characteristics. A distilled, essential idea; reduced complexity revealing clarity; shaped by purpose and elegance – yet elusive through relentless reduction and refinement.
We encapsulate the essence of simplicity in definitions of boundaries, which we designed to contain and prevent the spiral of relentless reduction and refinement inherent in simplicity. This allows us to converge on a tangible subset of qualities that we might strive for in our process.