Simplicity vs. Complexity and the sociopolitical aspects of design

First of all, simplicity and complexity are two dissonant approaches to design that are interrelated. One can find complexity in something simple and simplicity in something complex. It depends on how one defines the area of interest to be judged and examined.

For example, physical reality is in its nature complex. The scientific community, while aiming to prove with objectivity how this complexity is true, also needs to explain it with more simplicity, so that everybody understands it; and yet, these simple explanations get so complex sometimes, that again not everybody understands the whole picture.

On the other hand, if one oversimplifies concepts, the original idea may get distorted, or even lost. Thus, where simplicity meets complexity is always an interesting area in the visual arts and conceptual storytelling. Artists tend to experiment and push to the limits, from one extreme to the other; in search of the surreal, artists produced a dream like, distorted version of reality while the element of complexity remained; furthermore, artistic movements like Bauhaus, Constructivism, De Stijl, all tried to reduce design and simplify it to the necessary practical elements, but complexity could still be found.

If you think about it, you will find that even the Minimalist approach “less is more” implies in its own words that simplicity (less), has complexity (more). In the other way around, the more complex a design is, the tendency of the viewer is to unify the complex area and see it as one big complex part, thus, reducing the design into simple parts.

Having in mind this general overview of simplicity vs. complexity, lets add another layer of interest by placing it in the context of a geographic region. Say  Europe. Lets examine simplicity vs. complexity through Design in Europe. Can it be seen from a different perspective? Especially now, that Europe is in an official economic unification and the EURO has replaced each country’s currency. Also, taking into account major events like the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the regimes in Eastern Europe, the ethnic tensions in the Balkans, the Euro zone financial problems and crisis in Greece, the wars in middle East and the influx of migrants in Europe; all have created new sociopolitical dynamics, that affect Design too.

But when we say Europe, we actually try to simplify the complexity of many different cultures and traditions into one word; basically that is what we do, when we talk about European design too. With the Bauhaus that affected northern Europe, distinctive design schools developed in Britain the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland; in the south, Spain, Italy and Greece, design stayed more illustrative and figurative, while in France a mixture of styles emerged; in Poland, a special design style in posters became a trend. The specific history, the lack or abundance of industrialism and the special sociopolitical conditions of each country formed these distinctive design styles, making it clearly a matter of culture; a European culture.

It must be understood that Europe, as mentioned earlier, has been trying to function as one single economy, for quite a long time now. The repercussions of this unification have been felt in all the European countries and the fears that come with globalization have increased tensions. These transformations have impacted the Graphic Design world, especially, with the digital revolution that computers and the Internet brought to our area. Large scale marketing has commercialized design. As Cyan, a small design studio from the former East Berlin, puts it:

”In order to support quick and easy consumption, meaning and form are reduced to a mundane banality”.

Some would agree that Simplicity in this sense has started to work in a negative way.

We see similar things happening in the U.S.A. However, we designers usually don’t have time to talk about design philosophy…. and the social impact of Design in the everyday life of citizens. Most of our time is spent creating, finding solutions to design problems that interfere with the client’s & user’s needs; trapped in the overwhelming everyday ephemera, the complexity of these issues rarely reach us, as what matters more is production of applied art work to fill our portfolios and satisfy our customers.

What is the role education can play in all this? Design education is very complex and demands knowledge through different experiences. Pippo Lionni, a French designer I once met, mentioned to me, that he had studied mathematics and philosophy before he started doing design. But then, this was obvious in his work that he showed me, where simplicity carried a deep thought in the philosophical mechanisms of his theme: “sailing”, as a result of the application of forces of nature that move the boat into new areas of the sea and experiences to be conquered through that movement…

“…everywhere we go we have big or small screens following us, showing those pictures without content… only fast shallow messages in a “1984” style of propaganda.”

Furthermore, when Pippo Lionni was asked to give young designers some advice, he said: “I urge my students to read a book per week”. His advice raises another important issue in Design education. Everyday we are flooded by social media with information and “empty” images, pictures with no real substance, on the Internet, in our mobile phones, everywhere we go we have big or small screens following us, showing those pictures without content… only fast shallow messages in a “1984” style of propaganda. Only a few of us read books; and designers should read books and go out and explore to seek inspiration and original ideas. We are called as designers to find solutions to businesses’ and users’ needs. To find a balance between simplicity and complexity and communicate ideas with a clear content and message. Living in an age where perhaps for the first time young people seem totally absorbed by virtual and augmented reality worlds, depriving them the adequate space for their natural role, their original, dynamic and sometimes radical ways is hard and frightening for the future. There looms the danger of simplicity, singularity, controlling the masses with a few algorithms that predict everything.

So how can a designer avoid passivity? The simplicity of being a mainstream designer is tempting; yet, Cyan argues “it doesn’t make sense to simplify impulses emanating from culture and society to make them easily digestible” (Cyan).

Another French designer Pierre di Sciullo connected politics to each of his designs and from all the complexity of his rhetoric, his message was simply: “get involved…”

As seen in this complex analysis, simplicity and complexity in design interrelate; sometimes they mean something “good”, others something “bad”. Someone mentioned in a statement of simplicity, that “as communication artists, we have in theory the power to change the world”; the complexity that follows the realization of this statement is great; but then again, simplicity calls for us to take the initiative!