Most concepts that you discuss with clients, potential clients, or general audiences are complex. However, if an item is too complicated, audiences will find it difficult to absorb in a single sitting. You want to keep your message as simple as possible, but not too simple. Ideas are complex, good ideas more so. You may be able to grab someone attention in a Twitter post, but you can’t fully explore an idea in less than 140 characters. Making a message too simple leaves people hanging.
This is a common practice in motivational speeches and multi-level marketing seminars. The concepts are simplified past the point of practicality. As a result. people leave these events pumped up, they’re positive, they can’t wait to move forward. The next morning, however, most don’t move forward because they are unsure how. They didn’t understand how the system they were told about really works. The oversimplified ideas that created such passion and interest during the meeting have already started to fade.
Yes, you want to create that passion. You also don’t want your ideas and concepts to be wiped out by a good night’s sleep. This is the danger of oversimplification. Simplicity is elegant. Simplicity allows concepts to be revealed naturally. When it was first unveiled, the Google home page was hailed as a model of simplicity. One logo, one search box, two buttons, it minimized search to its bare bones. It was easy to understand and use. For a search engine, it was the perfect example of simplicity.
However, as Google grew, it became too simple. The services Google offered were no longer accessible through the simple interface. As the company added docs, sites, news, and more the simple search box could no longer offer all the services. It was too simple. Not wanting to lose the simplicity, Google added minimal menus, but as a result, most people don’t realize the wide range of services that Google offers. What was once the perfect level of simplicity, is now oversimplified.
To explain the full range of an idea, sometimes a little complexity is needed. Keep you idea as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Connect With Us