PRINCIPLE 3.4
Simplify Form
Identify core elements. Trim the rest.

I enjoyed reading this chapter of Artful Design. In particular, it felt very reminiscent of G.E.B. starting from the part where it talks about Zeno's paradoxes, and I was glad to see that it got a shoutout when talking about strange loops. Another tidbit that I wanted to mention was when reading about Golan Levin's Yellowtail, I was reminded of a game on the App Store called Blek, which uses the same interaction, but turns it into a game about drawing a mechanism that is able to slither its way avoiding obstacles (black holes in the shape of circles) and gathering all of the items (other colored circles). In a sense, the design philosophy of that game also mirrors what was talked about in the book, especially principle 3.4. Instead of overcomplicating the game with stimuli like many other mobile games (looking at you Candy Crush), Blek is exceedingly minimalist, using only basic geometries and limited interactions, yet for me having a greater gravity than other more superficial titles. Still, it creates a lot of complex gameplay and offers a lot of replayability, especially treating the game as a canvas to see how creative one can get with the solutions, similar to principle 3.5: build complexity from simplicity.

Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away...
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, (trans. Lewis Galantiere)

De Saint-Exupéry wrote that "perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." I think this is a great quote, and one that is reflected in the principles discussed in this chapter. Model 3.17 talks about a paradigm for multi-modal design where function informs form. Under this model, I think there is a clear task for the designer to achieve (how to create something that does the specified function). This is where I think De Saint-Exupéry's quote, as well as principle 3.4, really shine. Users of the creation would be looking for a way to achieve the function, not anything else (see figure 2). Beyond considering the users, I think this quote and principle is also a good exercise for designers. By distilling the form down to only the most necessary elements, the designer gets a clearer idea of the function as well as how the form can be extended should it need to. This then goes back to chapter 1, where form follows function, but can also modulate (elucidate in this case) function. Some might call this revelation a strange loop.