$30 off During Our Annual Pro Sale. View Details »

Embracing constraint

Simon Collison
September 23, 2012
Design
3
760

Embracing constraint

Refresh LX, Lisbon, Portugal, 21st September 2012

For many designers total freedom is far from ideal. We need an idea or a brief, but with that come inevitable constraints. Understanding and embracing these constraints is key to finding a simpler way to manage complexity in the websites we build. With less freedom and fewer resources, we have to make smarter decisions. In this practical talk, Simon will look at why we should impose limits, with a focus on making sense of the constraints we're given, why we should apply constraints ourselves, and how constraints can be a core feature in our work.

Simon Collison

September 23, 2012
Tweet

More Decks by Simon Collison

See All by Simon Collison
The Internet of Natural Things
colly
2
280
The Designer’s Guide to Being Essential
colly
0
570
Old Dog, New Tricks
colly
6
870
Crafting the Progressive Web
colly
4
580
Designing the designer
colly
16
790
Creative Mornings NYC
colly
6
3.5k
A Philosophy of Restraint
colly
194
15k
A more meaningful web
colly
19
950
Notes From The Edge
colly
5
530

Other Decks in Design

See All in Design
DESIGN PERSPECTIVES　制作会社から大企業のデザイナーに転職して気づいたこと
koel
0
690
レガシー産業における顧客理解とデザインの実践 / Customer understanding and design practice in legacy industries
kaminashi
1
1k
UXA2023 Andy Budd - Design’s Mid-Life Crisis
uxaustralia
PRO
0
500
ユーザーのペルソナを元にしたアクセシビリティガイドラインを作りたいというアイデア - レバレジーズ x ココナラ x ニフティ 合同フロントエンド勉強会
niftycorp
0
140
UXA2023 Zoë Rose - Creative thinking methodologies: a lost history
uxevents
PRO
0
170
UXA2023 Emily Underwood and Eilish Out-O'Reilly - Designing for the overlooked user we will all become
uxaustralia
PRO
0
170
UXA2023 Eva Plaisted, Klaus Paiva and Maria Christley - oing smaller, to go bigger: A design system evolution
uxevents
PRO
1
150
保育士がデザイナーになって直面した壁とこれからの挑戦
kubosaya
1
450
AI by Design - Dan Saffer
uxyall
0
110
UXA2023 George Aye - That Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide
uxaustralia
PRO
0
180
Designship 2023 公募セッション登壇資料 / デザインプログラムマネージャーになって気づいた「これもデザイン」
mewmo
PRO
2
2.1k
UXA2023 Erin Casali - Driving organizational change with co-design
uxevents
PRO
0
360

Featured

See All Featured
Fantastic passwords and where to find them - at NoRuKo
philnash
34
2.2k
Unsuck your backbone
ammeep
660
56k
Infographics Made Easy
chrislema
236
17k
BBQ
matthewcrist
76
8.5k
Bash Introduction
62gerente
603
210k
Raft: Consensus for Rubyists
vanstee
130
6k
Building an army of robots
kneath
299
41k
GraphQLとの向き合い方2022年版
quramy
26
12k
Optimizing for Happiness
mojombo
368
68k
Designing Dashboards & Data Visualisations in Web Apps
destraynor
225
51k
How GitHub (no longer) Works
holman
299
140k
Designing on Purpose - Digital PM Summit 2013
jponch
108
6.2k

Transcript

  1. Embracing
    constraint

    View Slide

  2. 1024 x 768

    View Slide

  3. 4:3

    View Slide

  4. 16:9

    View Slide

  5. 1920 x 1080

    View Slide

  6. 30

    View Slide

  7. 140

    View Slide

  8. View Slide

  9. View Slide

  10. View Slide

  11. View Slide

  12. View Slide

  13. View Slide

  14. View Slide

  15. View Slide

  16. View Slide

  17. View Slide

  18. View Slide

  19. View Slide

  20. View Slide

  21. 8

    View Slide

  22. View Slide

  23. View Slide

  24. View Slide

  25. View Slide

  26. Having complete freedom is
    possibly the worst way to start
    any project.

    View Slide

  27. Given constraints

    View Slide

  28. With less freedom and fewer
    resources, we have to make
    smarter decisions.

    View Slide

  29. Why impose limits?

    View Slide

  30. Simplicity
    and
    complexity

    View Slide

  31. Less is more. Simple is be er.
    Right?

    View Slide

  32. View Slide

  33. View Slide

  34. View Slide

  35. View Slide

  36. View Slide

  37. View Slide

  38. View Slide

  39. View Slide

  40. View Slide

  41. We don’t design web pages.
    We design systems.

    View Slide

  42. View Slide

  43. 800

    View Slide

  44. 960

    View Slide

  45. 320

    View Slide

  46. View Slide

  47. View Slide

  48. Constraint is key to understanding complexity.
    Increase constraint and you create an ordered
    system; do that inappropriately and you create
    the conditions for catastrophic failure; remove
    constraint and the system is chaotic.
    Dave Snowden, The 5 C’s of Complexity

    View Slide

  49. Content
    as constraint

    View Slide

  50. The constraints we know,
    and the constraints we’ve
    yet to encounter.

    View Slide

  51. View Slide

  52. Unleash complexity in
    orchestrated phases, and
    increase power gradually.

    View Slide

  53. Constraints
    as selling point

    View Slide

  54. View Slide

  55. View Slide

  56. View Slide

  57. View Slide

  58. We design to communicate,
    and we seek emotive responses.

    View Slide

  59. View Slide

  60. View Slide

  61. delight / emotion / surprise
    systems / constraint / restraint
    simplicity / complexity / focus
    context / reduction

    View Slide

  62. Thanks
    Simon Collison
    @colly

    View Slide