#2 Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
First thing that comes to mind: my planner. Where would I be without it?
Organizing or "taming complexity" as Maeda calls it, relieves a lot of the headache that can go on in daily life, not just in graphic design (although necessary in both). I know on days when I'm trying to keep track of things in my head, I have to take an hour at the end of the day just to get my wits about me again. If everything goes down in my planner, then it feels like the day is being continuous versus chopped up (see law #3). In design, the artist should have a plan and a reason for why certain things go where. This way, the styles are balanced, order is planned, and simplicity is more likely to be the result.
#3: Savings in time feel like simplicity.
This law of Maeda's really resonates with me because I like everything to have it's place; that means having a specific place in time as well as a physical place. In Electronic Media Audience Analysis, our professor is constantly giving us the amount of time children, teens, and adults spend hooked up to media gadgets. Sometimes these numbers are astronomical! According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, daily media use in 2009 by 8-18 year olds was at 7 hours and 38 minutes! So many seconds and minutes out of that time are lost waiting for (as Maeda says) pages to load rebuffering. Even in our daily lives, waiting 20 seconds extra to walk across a crosswalk is enough to annoy me. When things happen simultaneously, it appears as though there is a natural order at work. When waiting commences, it seems as if our day is constantly being chopped into sections versus working seamlessly. Maeda's law says basically the same thing about graphic design. It should flow seamlessly. Make it clear and legible. Make is simple.
#5 Simplicity and complexity need each other
Maybe I'm way off base here, but I feel like this law is irrelevant. Maeda often talks about the necessity of keeping things streamline and simple, but I don't quite understand why he finds it necessary to say something like 'a bright color like pink is nice against an olive color,' on his book's website. Just because you add different dimensions to a project does not mean it isn't simple, in my opinion. I understand that there is a fine line in overdoing it, but I'm just not sure that law #5 isn't already implicit. If there are lots of compositions, but they all work together and balance each other, then I feel like the design is still simple. I understand what he is saying, that sometimes we need to spice things up, but I still firmly believe that if it works together well, it is already simplistic. If we, as an audience, really have to work at comprehending a design, it might be time to consider complexity in a different way.
As for the laws in my own life, I must agree with Cassie Teegler, they are applicable in all areas. I can see major events being more simplistic in decor, and therefore, more elegant. And I also like his idea of expressing emotion in #7. I think more information really helps people to understand a full message. However, while I respect the work of Maeda, I truly don't feel his work is earth shattering. It is human nature to dislike stress, and every time I see art/design that is complicated or confusing, I feel the slightest amount of stress. At the core of his need for simplicity, it seems there is a need for feeling balanced. Overly-done designs might have subjective meaning, but commercially, they are without value. The underlying message I receive from Maeda is to make life more simplistic, and thus, make design more simplistic so that the audience is subconsciously comfortable.
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