1. Oppose complicated and unnecessary decoration.
Now that I think about it, the slogan put forward by architect Mister Vandero has several meanings. For example, at that time, the background was that by the beginning of the 20th century, the development of technology had gradually replaced handicraft industry with mechanization. In the era of mechanical return, exquisite patterns or decorations that took a lot of time in traditional handicraft industry could be produced in batches quickly and amicably, which made the complicated decorative design in handicraft industry era have no reason to exist, and new design forms have not yet been formed. At this time, Smith put forward that less is more, and opposed the complicated and meaningless decoration in the products produced by mechanization, and turned to the design language that matched the mechanical age.
2. The inclination is smaller and the adaptability is stronger.
This is also the most important slogan of modernism, removing unnecessary decoration and even form, and making design faithful to function and material itself. The influence of less is more on architecture is extremely obvious:
This is the design of 1929 German Pavilion in Barcelona World Expo.
Do you think this building is very common and familiar, because it was built nearly a hundred years ago? Mies used reinforced glass concrete to think about what modern architecture should look like from the perspective of functionalism, and later evolved into an internationalist style. Finally, Smith changed two-thirds of the world skyline with his "less is more":
Because Mies' modernist architecture is only faithful to the function and materials, and removes the decoration, the tendency of modernist architecture is very small, which makes modernist architectural ideas spread in a wider range. This is also a meaning that less is more, that is, less tendency and wider adaptability. Of course, the innovation of building materials makes high-rise buildings possible, which is also a reason for the emergence of modern buildings all over the world.
3. Reduce unnecessary materials or processes, reduce costs and adapt to more people.
Less is more is another meaning, which is also an idea I can't agree with. It is to remove unnecessary decoration, materials and techniques from the functional point of view, so as to reduce costs and make products affordable for more people. For example, Xiaomi, whether it is some commercial behavior or attitude towards industrial design, does provide a product with acceptable quality and meets the basic functions, and reduces the price, so that more people can get in touch with the product.
4. Design often brings more problems than it solves.
The more you design, the more you find that the problems are often interrelated. Solving one problem with design often brings another or several problems. At this time, designers need to make choices, solve the most important problems and minimize the incidental problems. Therefore, the best design is to design as little as possible. For example:
The toy Troy designed by Sheila Shamiya meets the main needs and requires as few designs as possible. If you test this design with less is more, you will find that it is completely consistent!