"The world of business and commerce has never been more complex. We live in a constant state of stimulation and distraction. The choices and features we face daily are overwhelming. Living a “simple life” is no longer an option. The desire to tune out the noise is overpowering, driving users and consumers to seek experiences that address that desire.
Business success in this new age of excess everything demands the ability to design those experiences, through the mastery of a surprising new skill: Subtraction.
Enter The Laws of Subtraction.
Filled with examples drawn from industrial design, art, business, and science, this talk makes a compelling case for a new approach, one based on the paradoxical notion of gaining by taking away.
This talk outlines six simple rules for winning in the age of excess everything, and delivers a single yet powerful idea:
In business and in life, when you remove just the right things in just the right way, something very good happens."
My Notes
- The session was not a book reading... rather a story
- Working for a Japanese car company the author learnt a lot of these techniques
- Showed an example of a E with whitespace to indicate the letter. Once you know what it is you can’t unshift your knowledge of it
- Example of the Fedex arrow :-)
- Example of the Sopranos ending, not an ending ... put clues in the episode as to what had happened in the ending. People re-watched the show a number of times. Then 3 endings came on the internet...
- An example of a bicycle with a hole in the middle, being the leading most comfortable bicycle seat, rather than other manufacturers who have been adding more and more support, in contrast this company took away.
- Given an example of a car - toyota - they wanted personalisation - $15K car, stripped down all the facilities and added as options
- Added another $15k of options on it - all about what was added (what was left out)
- Traffic intersections - removed all the traffic signs and signals at high traffic intersections in towns. Video given for the intersection - looked crazy. Completely “unambiguous and uncertain” Therefore people slow down and look at human beings. Twice traffic flow, accidents almost zero or at least cut in half.
- Example of the Mona lisa - a lot of mystery about the smile... Somato - blurry, removed the distinct lines from around eyes and mouth ... and so each time you look at it the smile changes.
- Comic books, comicon, what makes comics so magical is not what is drawn... it’s in the gutter (the space between the panels). Takes two images and mashes them together, and generates what has happened in the space between - you make up the animation in your own mind.
- iPhone 2007 magical ... implementation of this - big part misisng - the physical keyboard, most compelling part, big big hype. Usually meant lots of information and leaks. There was no advertising, or leaks or advertising. The radio silence, sparked the imagination of the world. By the time the iPhone went on sale, 20m had expressed desire to purchase - it has tipped. Limiting information fires the imagination.
- OutBurger - drive through, 1947 it started, simple menu ... only about 4 things, and it’s still the same way. What’s not there, not is there. Secret menu!!!! 2-3 other items on the secret menu. E.g. flying dutchman, animal style or grilled cheese, etc....... ! Limiting of information and constraint of not changing menu.
- Put in a policy that less work will make you more productive ... e.g. in a company stopped people working one evening. Breaks - not working, make you more progressive.
- “stand still when the hippos charge” - if you run you will die. Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something.
- The full slides can be found here: http://matthewemay.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/SXSW.pdf
- The author is called Matthew May
- Check out the book - Laws of Subtraction http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0071795618
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