simple things usually start messy. every "simple" solution i've made began as something much more complicated.

it's like when you try to write a short message, it often takes longer than a long one. you have to understand everything first, then cut out what you don't need.

starting messy

i used to think good products started simple. i was wrong. everything clean and simple i see today came from messy beginnings. look at the iphone, behind it are years of complicated work.

my best work always follows this pattern as much as possible:

• start messy
• make it work, even if it's complicated
• use it and learn from it
• cut out the extra stuff

like cleaning your room you have to see all the mess before you can organize it.

tools shape our thinking

i was using figma lately and noticed we all think in boxes now. and since chatgpt showed up, everyone writes the same way neat and tidy. it's funny how the tools we use change how we think. we don't even see it happening.

when someone says "keep it simple," they really mean "work with what we have." but limits aren't bad. some of my best ideas came from working with limits, not fighting them.

the attention economy

i think of user attention like money. every click and wait costs something. good design spends this wisely. the best products don't waste attention, they use it well. they make things simple and give back value to users.

with so many distractions today, how we use attention matters a lot more than you think. every popup or animation either helps or hurts the user's focus.

i follow these simple rules:

• only interrupt when needed
• make each action useful
• give back more than you take

letting go

the hard part isn't adding stuff but it's knowing what to remove. i often get attached to clever ideas that just make things more complicated. learning to let go isn't easy.

small things add up. a fancy animation might look cool once, but gets annoying quickly. i try to make every small interaction worth it.

experience

after building things for years, i spot patterns faster now. things that used to seem hard now feel obvious. but i had to go through the hard stuff first to learn these lessons.

sweet spot

everything doesnt have to be made tiny, it's to hide the complicated parts where they don't need to show. i love when people say "that's it?" about something that took months to simplify. simple things aren't simple because they were easy to make. they're simple because someone took the time to understand the mess and clean it up.

good design is not just about fewer distractions, it's about making things better. the best interfaces feel natural, like a good conversation. but we have to be careful - our tools can shape our thinking into patterns we might not even notice.

—we borrow people's attention. let's use it well.