John Maeda in The Laws of Simplicity (The MIT Press, 2006) tells about learning to swim as an adult. Swimming was not easy until he learned one simple experience. He relates the way his unorthodox swimming instructor taught. He says the instructor spent most of his time telling him to "lean back" and trust the water.
I kept waiting to learn how to swim, but in the meantime became more comfotable just leaning back or bending forward in the water. A formative moment occurred when he (the instructor) told us to go ahead and flap our arms and feet, and suddenly I was swimming! I realized I could always swim--I just didn't trust the water.He thought of this experience when he visited Bang and Olufsen, the high styled designer of electronic equipment. They did not focus on the quality of sound but the "quality of leaning back." Bang and Olufson needs to know about sound but the sound also needs to know about the listener.
Trust is simple or is it complex?
2 comments:
It is not always trust that is the issue. Fear is often the culprit.
I agree that there are many culprits in these issues. Water is to be feared under some circumstances.
In fact, to some regard this is how simplicity and complexity work; the one needs the other. The drive for simplicity, in my mind, comes from the fact that too frequently we (maybe I) resort to complexity not taking the time to have understood (and experienced) simplicity. Our bodies actually do float if we lean back an put our arms out.
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