Keep It Simple

Avoiding confusion and complexity

---

In a complex world, simplicity is important. With so many things competing for people's attention, the more basic you can make something, the better.

Simplicity is why slogans can be so important. When you hear "Just do it," you think of the Nike brand and all the things that go along with it – Michael Jordan, air, running, high quality, high performance, innovation, and so on. The power of those three little words can be incredible.

When you see several brochures, which one are you more likely to pick up – the brochure with lots of words written in tiny print, or the brochure with a bold background and only a few key words? The more simple the message, the more impact it can have – and the more likely it will be to attract someone's attention.

Details are never in short supply. People typically look for details after something grabs their interest. To get them interested, though, you need to take a simple approach.

When Less is More

It's hard to be simple. There's so much you want to communicate, and you don't want to leave anything out. What people tend to forget is that to effectively communicate something, you need to first...

... for the complete article:

Mind Tools members, click here.