Via Explainst:

This Scientific American article describes their elegant experiment to see how people react when something “feels??? difficult. They presented two different groups of college students with printed instructions for a regular exercise routine. While the wording was the same in both sets of instructions, one group received instructions printed in a hard-to-read Brush font (a font that looks like brush strokes) while the other group received instructions printed in good ol’ fashioned Arial.

The results were crystal clear. People who received Arial instructions were more enthusiastic about the exercise routine than the Brush font folks, and predicted it would be much easier. The psychologists tried the experiment again using a sushi roll recipe and saw similar results.

We've had a number of discussions about our paperworks format and how it's perceived by viewers.  When talking to people, they often mention accessibility - that the format gives them a feeling like "Oh, I can get this, it's not going over my head." Could it be that one reason people like our videos is that their perception of difficulty, based on the simple drawings, makes them more likely to keep watching and act on the ideas?

Super Simple:

This is called the Q-drum and it's built for transporting 20 gallons of water - something that millions do everyday. Super simple indeed.

You can read more in the New York Times article Design that Solves Problems for the Worlds Poor. I first heard about the Q-drum from Darren Barefoot.

Needlessly Complex:

This is a Japanese toilet that has 17 buttons. The one I use at home only has a single lever and it's never left me wanting more. Needlessly complex? I say yes.

Maybe you've seen similar items? I'd love to hear about any products that are stark examples of simplicity or complexity.

For a while now I've been fascinated by the idea of creating a single place (other than Facebook) that brings together all the things I do on the Web. That is why I created the zeitgeist page here on Common Craft - to have that single place to bring it together. At the same time, I've had a blog at leelefever.com that has become a pain to keep updated - I needed a replacement.

Recently I discovered Tumblr, which is a super-simple and lightweight way to have a blog with a minimum of effort.

Here's the deal. I blog here, I put photos on Flickr, I put videos on You Tube and updates Twitter, the list goes on. Anyway, Tumblr takes the RSS feeds from these sources and turns them into blog posts. This was a perfect replacement for my old blog - it is always updated.

Further, Tumblr makes it super-simple for me to add a new photo, video, quote, blog post, or whatever, via a handy-dandy bookmarklet. It's fast.

The Tumblr posts don't allow comments and there are only a handful of features, but they appear to be the right ones.

So, I've redirected leelefever.com to leelefever.tumblr.com - which will provide a constant flow of Lee-related bloggified fun from this point forward.