This week we covered a subject very close to our hearts at Scriberia - simplifying. It’s no exaggeration to say that our desire to keep things simple underpins not just the way we approach our creative work, but the way we operate as a business too. Complexity slows things down, costs more time and energy, it’s less memorable, less enjoyable, less fun and fewer people engage with it.
We also find that the simpler we keep our work, the more accessible it is to our clients, the more able they feel to comment or build on it and the more they trust us. Yet we know from experience that simplicity is hard. It requires a conscious and continuous effort to keep things simple. If we’re not trying to keep things simple, they get complicated. That’s human nature. So we need to challenge ourselves and at times sacrifice details we may be quite pleased with in the name of simplicity. We’ve seen already that you’re all very smart people. So pride yourselves on your thinking skills! We want your ideas to stand up for themselves and not hide behind artistry. To convey something simply however, you really need to understand it. We’ve all witnessed people spouting jargon or convoluted explanations when they don’t quite understand something as well as they would like us to think. As Einstein apparently said, “if you can’t explain it to a five year old, you don’t understand it yet.”
And, the same thing applies to drawing. We often add unnecessary complexity to our drawings when the concept we are attempting to convey isn’t yet clear enough to ourselves. The flip side of that though, is that committing to draw something simply is a great way to prioritise, filter and refine a concept. As we’ve discovered this week though, there is a balance to be struck. Simplicity mustn’t become simplistic. Too much information is wasteful and distracting, but too little risks ambiguity and confusion. So we must always weigh up the value of every detail and every mark we make, to ensure that every element of our drawing in some way serves its overall purpose.
This week’s homework gives you some further opportunities to practice ruthless simplicity!
“Simplicity is complexity resolved.”
This week in summary
Warm Up
Limited Resources
Sometimes simplicity is the only option. We love this game of making pictures from Lego by the illustrator Christoph Niemann, one of the cleverest and most engaging visual thinkers around today. If you’ve got some colourful bricks lying around, set yourself a theme and see what you can come up with. You’ll find the limited range of shapes and colours really pushes your thinking and creativity. Exploit the possibilities of your caption too – it can do a lot of hard work for you. (Image: Christoph Niemann)
“Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.”
Homework challenges
As we discussed in the session, we feel there are three key ways of creating simplicity from something more complex.
Reducing is the act of rigorously and ruthlessly removing detail until you’re left with just the essentials. “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add,” wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupery “but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Combining requires an ability to spot opportunities for single elements to do more than one job. A great example of this are some of Abram Games’ war posters, where he unifies two distinct concepts in a single shape.
Restricting requires setting tight rules and conditions from the outset which make complexity much more difficult. This might mean limiting yourself to a certain set of shapes, or materials which don’t allow for intricacy. Many people find that this turns the act of drawing into an act of problem solving - a puzzle to be cracked - releasing them from the pressure of infinite possibility!
The following homework challenges address each of these techniques.
Reducing: Create an ultra-simple diagram
Coach Dan has a challenge for you! Can you create a diagram of a process or sequence of actions which is so simple it could be read on the back of a coin? That means no colours, and no excess detail!
Combining: Create your own call-to-action poster
Inspired by Abram Games, let’s create our own call-to-action poster that elegantly combines two concepts into one striking and simple form. Take a phrase from each column to create your poster!
Go solar*
Grow your own food
Plant trees
Cut fumes
Use a real cup**
Mend, reuse, recycle, upcycle
Take the train
Put on a jumper***
for a brighter future
and break new ground
for our children’s future
and breathe new life into the city
it won’t cost the Earth
make the most of what you have
change your habits not the climate
and stop warming the planet
* Change from fossil fuels to solar energy.
** A ceramic mug, for example, not a disposable cup.
*** The British word for a sweater.
Restricting: Blood Donation Instructions
Design a poster describing the process of giving blood, using these steps. However, there’s a catch! You can only use the shapes provided on this sheet, plus the text given. You can use the shapes multiple times and slice them up if you wish. You may also enhance the shapes with simple black lines, but keep these to a minimum. If you don’t have the ability to print these out, don’t worry, an approximate version of these, using either cut-up post-its, or even hand-drawn shapes, is fine too.
Have your weight taken
Complete donor registration form
Test for type and health of blood (finger prick)
Clean arm
Draw blood (470ml donation, takes 5-10mins)
Rest for 15 minutes
Refreshment - drink and a snack
Resume normal activity
