Summary:
Chapter 1: Why Is Complexity Necessary?
In this chapter, author Donald Norman states the difference between something that's complex and something that's complicated. He mentions that complexity depends on the state of mind while something that's complicated is confusing and difficult to comprehend or master. This complex refers to the state of the world while complicated refers to the psychological state. He mentions that some complications arise due to bad design. He also mentions that sometimes complexity is required and is appropriate. Complexity can be measured using the time it takes to understand a complex concept or a task.
Chapter 2: Simplicity is in the Mind
In this chapter, Norman mentions that our mind takes in a complex task and breaks it down into simplified tasks, thus simplicity is the in the mind. Sometimes, the things that we perceive to be simple are in fact not that simple. Norman states that people feel comfortable working with intermediate level of complexity.
Discussion:
Norman does a great job in differentiating complex from confusing and complicated. Something might look simple, but doesn't necessarily mean that it's indeed simple. It might be very complex from within but the designers did a great job at not making it confusing giving an impression of simplicity to the users. For example, Apple Iphone has just two buttons - home button and the power off button. The interface is extremely simple but the design and the internals are extremely complex.
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