amy lamp design

The Beauty of Ockham’s Razor

I first learned about Ockham’s Razor, also known by other names such as “law of economy” and “principle of simplicity,” when I picked up the book Universal Principles of Design. This book, by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler, is very helpful for anyone interested in design.

Ockham’s Razor immediately jumped out at me as something I could identify with. It asserts that unneccessary elements in a design should be tossed, keeping the strongest elements for the purest solution. This reminds me of principles I’ve heard repeated over and over again at presentations about creating web sites. Robert Hoeckman, Jr. emphasized “Reduce, reduce, reduce and refine” at a presentation in Chandler, AZ, in 2008, saying that this technique results in intentional communication. Examples include senduit.com and, of course the most famous, google.com.

The work of Charles and Ray Eames embodies this prinicple as well. To me, their designs are clean and graceful, and more like tools that allow you to get along easier with your life. It’s a quality I admire in a nation that so readily embraces “more is more” and overstuffed lives.

I’ve always worked in my design projects to first be functional and my projects definitely lean toward the simple side. It was somehow a relief to me to be able to put some sort of common label on this principle. Anyone who likes to categorize, organize and clarify can relate.