In January 2004 the MIT Media Laboratory initiated a major research agenda focused on SIMPLICITY—a design-oriented program aimed at redefining our relationship with technology in our daily lives. This goes well beyond removing buttons, slimming down screens, and shrinking interfaces to fit into the palms of our hands. It is a radical reexamination of ways to break free from the intimidating complexity of today's technology and the frustration of information overload. It is about inventing a future where less is more.

While a certain percentage of the population will always be "gadget geeks" who cannot get enough of complexity and functionality in any electronic device, most of us yearn for a DVD player whose programming is intuitive, an online newspaper that can deliver the stories we want in a quick and easy-to-read format, or a cell phone whose instruction book has fewer than 100 pages. We dream of devices that give us joy rather than feelings of inadequacy.

The vision of SIMPLICITY is one in which “simple” is not cheap or single-function, but rather elegant and easy to use. Think, for instance, of the beautiful iPod, which has less performance at a higher price than most if its competitors, yet still dominates the market.

Toward this goal, we are reexamining a full range of research areas: the online shopping experience with an eye toward designing more fulfilling e-commerce interactions; engineering experiments that give us a better understanding of how we learn and how we feel about tasks set before us; and building SMPL (Simple Media Protocol Layer), a core technology layer of easily customized and extendable software and hardware that will provide an innovative infrastructure for connecting all different kinds of information and devices.

Currently we are actively collaborating with Media Lab sponsors Time Inc., BT, Johnson & Johnson, AARP, Toshiba, and Samsung on ways to move SIMPLICITY into the marketplace. We are also inviting a select group of industrial collaborators to join with us in this quest for SIMPLICITY. If you are interested, please contact SIMPLICITY Program Assistant Vinnie Russo (E-mail: vrusso **at** media.mit.edu, Tel: 617-253-8321).

The Simplicity Paradox refers to the fact that one always want a powerfully functional object which by nature of its very potential belies a complexity of operation. To make something simpler, often means to make something less powerful. How do you make something powerful, but simple to operate at the same time? This is the challenge.