Visual Language for Designers

PRINCIPLE 3REDUCE REALISM

“The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.”

JOHN MAEDA, The Laws of Simplicity

There are times when the ideal expression of a message can be achieved through visual shorthand. An effective way to do this is to reduce the realistic qualities embedded in a graphic.

One way to think about realism is in terms of fidelity, or how much an image resembles something recognizable. On a continuum, visuals with the highest fidelity are photographs in full and natural color, and photorealistic 3-D renderings. The high-fidelity visual contains detail, depth, shadow, texture, and nuance of color as close as possible to interpreting what we see in our environment. On the other end of the continuum are ...