Here’s the another gem from the AIGA talk in London. There are ten of them and I’m posting them one at a time. Check back often.

#5

LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE. 

Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One 

morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd 

proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within 

it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you 

think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you 

cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every 

change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. 

You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes 

for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, 

I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough 

is more.