"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein

The Internet, or the better bits of it, has radically simplified and improved the way people can find certain types of information.

But there is still too much information about which it is too complicated and disorganised for people to use in the way they would like to.

This applies in all sorts of situations, from buying a train ticket, to finding out about what the law is, to using software which is supposed to help you do your job.

Many other people have noticed this, and commented that this needs to change. There is not much point in having vast amounts of sophisticated software and information technology, they think, if its main effect is to add to the confusion.

So we start from a bias towards trying to make existing information products and services simpler. We also want to develop new information products and services which will simplify people´s experience of finding information and making effective decisions.

Put simply, we want to make it easier for people to find and do the things they want to.

Some references

The Economist: a very good survey about simplicity and information technology

Google: how Google does a very complicated thing and makes it look simple

Ambient Devices : a company which creates products that reduce information "noise"

Some books

Donald Norman: The Invisible Computer

Edward De Bono: Simplicity

Jakob Nielsen: Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity