This made me think about the debate with prehistoric art: the first rock art (animals) is very detailed and realistic, and then there is a period when everything is drawn with just 4 or 5 lines, very basic representations of people and animals. It puzzles archeologists, like artists went ‘backwards’. But I think is the other way around: reducing a concept to the simplest representation possible is not easier- it is way more difficult. It’s abstract thinking at its best.
I find it fascinating how these principles apply to my own field of music, especially when it comes to arranging parts for a song. Over the last couple of years I’ve moved from more complex (even orchestral) arrangements to much simpler guitar-piano-voice approaches.
There’s a technique in audio mixing, where you turn the level down so that you only hear the “core” of the sound, which is where the simplicity lives. All the tiny details disappear until you turn it back up. It gives perspective.
(Also, thanks for the MacOS screenshots you posted recently - a wave of nostalgia!)
Why is simplicity an end in itself? Surely it's valuable only inasmuch as it furthers some more meaningful cause? In which case, we should measure success by the extent to which that goal is met.
So for me, the question is whether something is perfect for its purpose, and I think a good definition of perfect is a state where any change is detrimental.
Simplicity is a means not an end, but its absence so often gets in the way of you achieving your goal, that its often worth treating as a goal in itself.
This made me think about the debate with prehistoric art: the first rock art (animals) is very detailed and realistic, and then there is a period when everything is drawn with just 4 or 5 lines, very basic representations of people and animals. It puzzles archeologists, like artists went ‘backwards’. But I think is the other way around: reducing a concept to the simplest representation possible is not easier- it is way more difficult. It’s abstract thinking at its best.
This is such a fascinating fact! “Simplicity on the far side of complexity”
I find it fascinating how these principles apply to my own field of music, especially when it comes to arranging parts for a song. Over the last couple of years I’ve moved from more complex (even orchestral) arrangements to much simpler guitar-piano-voice approaches.
There’s a technique in audio mixing, where you turn the level down so that you only hear the “core” of the sound, which is where the simplicity lives. All the tiny details disappear until you turn it back up. It gives perspective.
(Also, thanks for the MacOS screenshots you posted recently - a wave of nostalgia!)
Really interesting to hear a musical perspective! I like 'turning the level down' as a metaphor for hearing what essence of something is
Why is simplicity an end in itself? Surely it's valuable only inasmuch as it furthers some more meaningful cause? In which case, we should measure success by the extent to which that goal is met.
So for me, the question is whether something is perfect for its purpose, and I think a good definition of perfect is a state where any change is detrimental.
Simplicity is a means not an end, but its absence so often gets in the way of you achieving your goal, that its often worth treating as a goal in itself.