The Power of Less in Design and Life
Redefining success with clarity.
You don’t want a mansion with 16 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. You think you do, but you don’t.
We see that kind of life plastered on social media. Quickly, we start to associate success and happiness with “things” of the most luxurious kind.
There’s nothing wrong with them in and of themselves. But when we get the fancy stuff, the satisfaction we thought we’d have runs out.
Then it’s on to the next shiny thing.
More, more, more.
The next thing you know your life is full of clutter and chaos. Decisions are harder to make.
And the people you thought were your friends never really liked you anyway. They were in love with your car instead.
Designing a simple, intentional life is our first step in avoiding this reality.
More is not always better
Having lots of shiny things won’t make you successful.
So often we measure our happiness by what we don’t have. Followers, claps, money. We chase higher volumes, hoping that one day we’ll reach the pinnacle of pleasure and satisfaction.
But that day never comes. We crave more.
There are consequences to this cycle that most of us overlook.
- Diminished focus
- Mental clutter
- Environmental ruin
- Strained relationships
- Stress and burnout
- Lack of gratitude
I could keep going, but you get the point. These consequences show that success is not about what you don’t have.
It’s about what you do with what’s right in front of you.
Clutter ruins our mental clarity, wrongly assuming that adding more to our lives will ultimately lead to happiness.
The baggage of trying to impress people
A lack of clarity will ruin any design.
Consider the most popular brands today. Think Nike, Google, or Apple. They all have something in common. Something that makes them more attractive than others.
They focus on their why and ignore everything else.
There is no clutter, no distractions getting in the way of their message to their target audience.
As a designer, I utilize simplicity every day. From deciding on graphics for a social media post to conceptualizing layouts for a website redesign project, simple always wins.
You don’t have to be a designer to know when something is designed well. That’s a designer’s job. But you still experience a good visual flow, without thinking too hard.
On Apple’s landing page, you see only what is needed:
- the logo
- a navigation menu
- a heading (with supportive imagery slightly offset)
It’s super simple.
Simple means the decision process is easier. This makes for a smooth user experience that focuses on solving the user’s problem.
Now compare that to something like this:
There’s a lot to take in here. So much is going on at once. Honestly, my brain didn’t know how to process this.
Clutter makes decisions harder. You lose sight of where to start because there’s no visual flow, no guiding point. Plus, the color combination is mind-numbingly confusing.
What follows is a bad user experience.
This may sound crazy, but life is no different. When we try to tack on more than we need to, it overwhelms us to the point of exhaustion.
We subtly make it our primary goal to impress people who can care less about us in the end.
In the pursuit of striving to impress, we often lose ourselves in the process. Our principles, unique style, and self-care all take a backseat.
Then we wonder why life feels like a bowl of soggy cereal.
Striving to project an image of success wastes your time.
You’re the only one living your life. No one else can do that. Rather than striving to impress people who honestly don’t care, focus on your goals.
Work towards what matters to you, regardless of what everyone else is doing. That’s where a good visual flow will lead.
You don’t need external validation. Your value is not based on the amount of claps you do or don’t have.
When I first started writing, I told myself I didn’t care about the views. But slowly I fell into the lie that they did.
It’s because I spent more time looking around than doing the work.
We make it easy to compare ourselves to others when we aren’t building something or using our creativity.
Forget about the attention. Share your work, and those who appreciate it will show up over time.
Invite clarity into your life
The best thing you can do is make simplicity a centerpiece. Shoot straight to the point about your goals and what you want to see in your future.
No fluff, no extra stuff. Just the bare-bones necessities.
Some people call this Minimalism. Others see it as Essentialism. But regardless of its name, the importance of implementing a simple life is crucial for true happiness and success.
There is something powerful about writing down your goals, looking at them every day, and taking intentional steps in that direction.
This requires us to have our eyes locked in on the goal at hand.
Spend less time looking around and more time cultivating your skills.
- Invest in a course
- Watch a tutorial
- Read a good book
Do what inspires you to keep going. These are actions that generate momentum in the right direction. Staring at everyone else has the opposite effect on you.
You start trying to conquer the world with a bunch of projects you think will make lots of money. Instead, prioritize what matters the most.
Pursue one essential thing at a time.
When design a clear path to our goals, we make our lives easier. I didn’t say “easy” because nothing worth pursuing is ever easy.
There will be challenges to anything you choose to do. But if you care about your goal, nothing will stop you from reaching it.
Get down to the bare minimum of what you need. Then go from there.
Forget about the fancy stuff that roams around on social media. Those are highlights, not actual success stories.
Uncover your reasons for wanting what you want, and take note of the value it adds or doesn’t add to your life.
The secret to designing a rewarding life is found in keeping things simple. More is not always needed.
Sit down and write out your goals, then you’ll see what gets the boot and what stays. Make clarity your next big thing.
Your future self will thank you.