Elegance as Complexity Reduction in Systems Design

Table 1

Artistic strategies for reducing complexity.

Noise-killing strategies	Add-meaning strategies
() Subtract details: eliminate unnecessary and uninformative details (e.g., by elementary geometric shapes, minimalist representation, sketched figures, and abstraction)	() Emphasize: assigning importance to elements by deliberate distortion (e.g., exaggerated proportions and emphasis on characterizing traits, as in caricature)
() Symmetry: can be vertical, horizontal, applied to the entire image, or to part of it	() Power of center: creation of a strong visual center toward which the author intends to draw the observer’s attention. The center is clearly identifiable by graphic elements directing attention such as direction lines, strong colors, and shapes or other graphical effects that radiates from the center
() Grouping: use of clusters to group visual elements and arrange them in the image to communicate a sense of order or relationship (by similarity, spatial proximity, juxtaposing different groups, etc.)	() Contrast and balance: creation of tension between elements that are supposed to be in relationship by contrast of color or composition (e.g., use of contrast tones, use complementary colors, and juxtaposition of shapes and elements across some axis to balance for visual weight)
() Split: use of informational hierarchy in the image in which visual elements are present at different levels (e.g., recursivity, as in the use of fractal forms, and background/foreground)