Great design doesn't demand attention — it earns trust. When a door handle tells you whether to push or pull without a sign, that's good design. When an app lets you finish a task without ever consulting a help page, that's good design.
The temptation to add more is always there. Another animation, another tooltip, another option in the settings. But every addition is a decision the user has to make, and decisions cost energy.
Less, but better
Dieter Rams said it decades ago, and it's still the hardest principle to follow. Removing a feature takes more courage than adding one. It means saying no to someone's request, admitting that your clever solution might be noise rather than signal.
The next time you're about to add something to a design, ask: would anyone notice if this wasn't here? If the answer is no, you probably don't need it.
