Simple and Usable Web, Mobile, and Interaction Design

Part 4. Remove

Remove

According to a 2002 study by Standish Group, 64 percent of software features are “never or rarely used.” Take a look at your DVD remote control and count the number of buttons that you’ve never touched. The same goes for almost any gadget or software you care to name. There are plenty of opportunities to simplify by removing.

Removing or omitting features can lead to successful products:

• Tumblr’s blog service has a fraction of the functionality of sites like WordPress or Blogger, but three years after its launch, it was booming with over two million blog posts every day.

• The Lotus Elise started life as a back-to-basics sports car with no air-conditioning and a production run of eight hundred. Fifteen years later, it ...