Ockham’s K.I.S.S.

Its amazing how principles like Ockham’s razor and K.I.S.S. continue to be relevant in today’s complex modern world. I read a blog on Gizmodo today about Graeme Davies who invented an ice-cube tray called Quicksnap that allows you to release a single ice cube without the normal problems associated with twisting an ice tray. Brilliant, why didn’t anyone think of that before? I mean we actually invented the automatic ice-maker, complete with auxiliary motor and plumbing, before we invented the plastic buttons on the Quicksnap.

Now I realise that ice cube extraction is not one of the world’s great problems but it did remind me that most often the simplest solution is the best solution and yet the simplest solution is rarely the solution employed. When it comes to web design, especially B2B web design, we often see complicated navigation mixed with loads of content, ads, banners, and well, just noise. If we apply the K.I.S.S. principle and just keep it simple we could narrow B2B web design down to 5 simple fields: Learn, Buy, Manage, Support and Search.

Imagine the B2B web site of a complex industry like Telecommunications. Most Telecomms websites are bastions of confusion and noise. From rotating banners to tech jargon to way too much content on every page, the user gets lost on the way and usually doesn’t come back. The focus of any B2B website is simple, tell your customers about your products, sell them the products, and help them manage their relationship with you, and that’s it.

If you apply Ockham’s razor and the simplest solution really is the best solution then there is no need for anything else on your home page. 4 buttons and a powerful search engine gets you anywhere you need to be in a click. Why clutter the page with anything else?