July 13, 2001: Nice thoughts on simplicity in design (and the apparent common preference for complexity) on brushstroke.tv. I tend to think of this in Paul Rand's terms of appropriateness:

Personal preferences, prejudices and stereotypes often dictate what a logo [or web site] looks like, but it is needs, not wants, ideas, not type styles which determine what its form should be.

And..

The implication that you do things willy-nilly just because you want to have a certain look, as far as I'm concerned, is nonsense. I think that everything you [design] has to make sense, and has to have a practical aspect, because it's a practical problem.

By the way, Paul Rand rules.