Bigger = Better?
The little lie & the bigger truth.
Given the recent release of the iPhone SE, I finally felt it was time to get this off my chest.
People are mocking the SE because of its size. Nearly every review I have read or watched exclaims shock and awe at the frail size of the SE. The reaction isn't surprising really. Nearly all phone's right now, including Apple's own phones are large screen phones, 4.7 inches and larger. People are used to their larger phones, and its nearly impossible to buy a smaller phone on the market that has excellence in quality, and pushes the boundaries of performance and design.
If you look at the changes between what was the original size of the iPhone 5S and the 6, you can see how much larger the footprint of the device increased. Whats interesting to note, while the size of the iPhone 6S grew, the battery life decreased and the increased thinness made it necessary to have the camera protrude from the back of the body. These are two sacrifices that seem like poor returns for a larger screen experience that both hinders the battery and reduces the durability of the product.
You'll hear things like "this is a great phone for those with small hands". Nearly every reviewer has said this. This is nonsense. A phone can never be too small, but it can be too big. This is an artificial problem, made by the presence of larger devices. One phone, made at one size can fit any hand if it is small. The real issue is that the design excludes people, instead of designing to meet all sizes of people.
This started when other phone makers began making larger devices, sometimes coined phablets, in an effort to differentiate from the iPhone. It worked. People wanted bigger. They wanted better. Somehow along the way bigger became equated with better. This became the status quo. Eventually, even designers of better judgment bought into the lie, and so in order to compete, even Apple submitted to the demands of the mob.
Here we are now. Where is the focus?
Let me stress that the idea of a large screened device in your life isn't a bad one. Large screen devices enable new experiences, ones that are useful and needed. But if there is anything I have learned about designing products that are fundamentally useful and clear about their function is that focus is an imperative part of design. The clear and simple truth is this: products must be restrained to be focused.
“Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better - because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.”
The designers ideal: form follows function, has been lost to the leading designers of the industry. They have been pressured to "innovate", to make changes to their designs to keep brands interesting and competitive. In the whole process I have to wonder, did anyone stop to ask the question why? Why do we need large phones?
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
This idea probably sounds counter intuitive. Having less is better? I assure you this is true. In practice good design limitations save time and reduce complexity. A great example is working in Photoshop. You can view your images on your phone, you can even edit them. But the simple experience on the phone just can't substitute the quick and robust experience you get in Photoshop on your large screen experience. This is why a work desk is almost always occupied by a large screen experience and not your phone. Both work, but one is simply a better experience.
This metaphor translates to all phone experiences. The phone should never be the single tool in your tool belt. It can't be a good hammer and a good screwdriver. Sure, it could be both, but once it is, its compromised in both experiences. The all-in-one tool can be damaging to our creativity, to our ability to see critical issues in our thinking, and to simply get things done.
So in summary, if I am saying anything is this; always ask if a design is necessary. If you find that it isn't, be rid of it. In the end you will find that your design will be fully realized because of its purity in form and trueness to its purpose. Truly less is more.