Why simple is always better

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

How humans changed

Do you know what's the average attention span of a person these days?
While there are so many numbers out there the largest one i saw was below 10 seconds. As a result of the technology advancement and the explosion of ads our attention span became shorter than it was.

Today most people are impatient, intolerant and easily irritated. Because of all of these changes many people no longer have a calm mind that allows them to examine complex things. Most people just want something simple that they can understand fast.

In addition to this our brains are very energy intensive. While the brain works perfectly it consumes a lot of energy and as a result we prefer to go for simple things that don't put high cognitive load on our brains.

A product that is simple to understand is much more likely to become popular than a complex product. In addition when humans are faced with two choices they always go for the easier one. If you can lose weight using a new imaginary device that burns calories while you are asleep then most probably you will never run again.

Five examples that prove that simple is always better

  • 1) The Smartphone Vs old phones: Do you remember the phones that had physical keyboards? The reason the Iphone was a breakthrough when it was first introduced is that it simplified the user experience in a way that was never done before. Instead of having a full keyboard it only had one button.
  • 4) Beautiful people Vs average looking ones: Why do you think we like to look at beautiful people? One study has shown that symmetrical faces are much easier for the brain to process and that's why we feel good when we look at them. In my book How to make someone fall in love with you i said that when we become familiar with someone we find him more attractive buy do you know why this happens? It's because our brains learn how to process the facial features faster of a familiar person. In other words it becomes easier for the brain to process the looks of that person
  • 3) List posts vs content blocks: I am pretty sure that you feel much better when you read a list post than when you read content blocks and the reason is the same. Our minds prefer the posts that put lower load on our brains (see also Why some people hate reading)
  • 4) Signing with Facebook vs registering with email: Did you sign using facebook before to a site or game? if you did that then most probably you noticed that Email sign ups became much harder and more frustrating. Because we are lazy by default we prefer the easier path (see also Facebook addiction psychology)
  • 5) Flappy birds popularity: I wrote an article before about the mysterious popularity of Flappy birds. One of the main reasons that game became popular is that it's extremely easy to learn (not how to win). There is no learning curve. Once you play the game you quickly discover that there is one action only you can do. In other words the controls are extremely easy to learn

Simplicity vs design complexity

So many people get that concept wrong. As soon as they are told that simpler products are better they quickly start to defend their point by mentioning few complex products that became popular.

What those people missed is that simplicity should be implemented in the interface the customer will interact with but this doesn't mean that the product itself can't be complex. For example the Ipad is a complex device. It has so many circuits integrated in a small space but the user interface is extremely simple.

When you try to create a product, a business or a website make it as complex as you want but when it comes to the part where the customer will get involved it has to be extremely simple.

There are thousands of psychology blogs out there but the reason 2knowmyself is successful is that it simplifies complex information and presents it in a simple way.

The Solid confidence program was launched by 2knowmyself.com; the program will either help you become more confident or give you your money back.

2knowmyself is not a complicated medical website nor a boring online encyclopedia but rather a place where you will find simple, to the point and effective information that is backed by psychology and presented in a simple way that you can understand and apply. If you think that this is some kind of marketing hype then see what other visitors say about 2knowmyself.

Want to know more?

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How to make anyone fall in love with me fast (book)

How to end Depression instantly (book)

How to control people's minds (Course)

How to develop rock solid self confidence fast (course)

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