#1 Reduce:

Starting off with Shrink: This topic relates well with me because I see it everyday. As soon as you go out and buy that new 50" inch and only 2 inch thick big screen Visio; three weeks later comes out the 50" inch and only 1.5 inch thick big screen. What I'm saying is that there is a continuing drive to make things smaller while doing all the same things as the older, larger version did, and maybe more. This keeps the world of technology going round and round. There will always be new ideas on how to shrink; and this interests me because I do love technology. I don't know if I necessarily agree with his concept of everything that is shrunk NEEDS EMBODIMENT. I understand that there is such thing as too small, but rarely do you see a case where smaller does not equal better. (but we'll talk more about that later)
Hiding I don't believe is quite as important as shrinking although it is still a great way to reduce. After I read about "hiding" the first thing that came to my mind was the little pop-ups on the bottom of the screen that mac's have. Hiding is great to people like me because I do get easily confused, and although I like having many options I do not need to see them all at once.
Embody has meaning that does surprise the other two forms of reduction. I first understood this concept when John talked about what is a better option: spending money on actual product progression on a fictional type product progression. A perfect example of this is when John said Michael Jordan wears Nike's for a reason. Now the first idea to your head would be duh, spend your money on making the shoes better (more comfortable, flexible etc.), but you must take a step back and imagine how genius the idea of throwing a pair of Nike's on all the best athletes and saying "hey look" was. You cannot tell me you have loved every pair of Nike's you have ever boughten, but I can tell you that I loved every pair of Nike's that I saw Mike or Kobe wearing.

#2 Organization

This was my favorite and most helpful rule to read about. Organization makes many appear fewer. John taught me that organizing subjects into groups is one of the best ways to elminate confusion.
IF THE NUMBER of subjects is significantly smaller than the number of groups. That line will forever stick in my mind. I am not the most neat kept person in the world but since middle school I have found that organization helps me in every single aspect of life. I'll start off with sports: I played 4 sports in high school which makes it obvious to say there is not enough time year round to practice all these sports to achieve the professional skills I always dreamed of. So here is where organization comes in; I must separate the time I have into time slots for which sports I would practice when. I would lift in the mornings (most helpful for football), I would do my baseball practices such as hitting and throwing right after school, and then when night came I would gather my buddies up and we'd meet up at the park for pick-up games. On a side note I also was interested in what John said about Gestalt and how humans naturally group things together.

#3 Learn

Knowledge makes everything more simple. Great statement and one of the many reasons that make this true is because people learn from history. Do you know how to tell the difference between a smart person, a very wise person, and an idiot? An idiot will keep committing the same mistakes over and over while expecting a different outcome. A smart person will commit a mistake, realize it, and then learn from it so he/she does not continue on the wrong path. A wise person learns from their mistakes AS WELL as other people's mistakes and takes it to heart for the future. History repeats its self so why not keep learning about how people have succeeded and failed on this earth in the past. I feel like after reading this section I caught a little inspiration on how mission to obtain knowledge. He speaks of his friend who is well over 70 years old and still a student. That is because we can gain knowledge forever, and if knowledge makes everything more simple, WHY NOT KEEP LEARNING?


Surprising to me John actually showed me many helpful lessons, and yes although I am not thriving to be a designer I can still use them in my life. One prime example of something John said that can help me in life was on learning. He said, "Often the reward justifies the path no matter how uncomfortable". I will keep that in my mind, it tells me that people such as myself need to keep dreaming, and make sure you think about that dream everyday. The more you envision yourself achieving what you want most in life, the more you will strive for it. I guarantee you it will make the path seem much less uncomfortable.