Less is Definately More

Many years ago I studied to be a photographer.  It was a passion of mine and I thought I was pretty good.  I’m not sure how good I was but during my studies I did learn that in many cases less is more.  I’ve carried that theme into all areas of my life especially in the work I do online.   

I cam across a post today that I found incredibly helpful while at the same time the model of simplicity.   The post was a review of the book Pentagram Marks, a book about logos.  The post is basically a series of pictures of the pages inside the book.  Not all the pages just a few to give you an idea of what’s inside.  ”never judge a book by the cover ;-)

The pictures were simple.  They were lit with light from the window which gives a pleasing soft light.  What I found interesting about these pictures is was the inclusion of the hand holding the pages open.  Right away this gives the viewer a sense of reality.  This was a post by a PERSON.  

The post was about a visual medium so pictures made sense.   Instead of just grabbing shots of the logos the pictures “felt” like a review of the book and not an exposition of the logos.  

I was impressed.

What did Grade 11 Physics teach me?

Many of us have heard the expression “All I really needed to know I learned in Kindergarten”.  This might be true but I learned a valuable lesson in Grade 11 Physics.  I had the less than populr Mr Poplowski.  I’d already had him as a teacher for Grade 9 Science.   I loved science so his style wasn’t a problem for me.  Not all my friends can say the same thing (right Laurie?).

It was in Mr. Poplowski’s class that we started to learned constants and formula’s.   Some of these concepts were new to me and were not things I knew or expected to know on the future.   As we were learning about Plancks constant or the like, I agonized over trying to remember this kind of knowledge.  In one conversation with Mr. Poplowski I learned this which turned out to be an important lesson:  I don’t need to know everything I just need to know where to find it!.  I was in high school a long, long time ago.  Well before the Internet.

Now in the Internet Age we have ready access to more information than ever before.   The trick is no longer what you can remember but how can you synthesize original ideas for the information currently available?  In life all tests are open book.   We don’t have to remember the facts.  We have to creatively apply known facts into unknown situations.   

So this is a little thank you to Mr Poplowski for teaching me a lesson that I put in practice every day.