Frugal Design Dramatically Lowers Cognitive Load
Waste, massive waste, is built into everything we do. This waste hurts the environment, increases cost and drains our mental energy (high cognitive load). I am especially interested in the cognitive load associated with waste. If we are to optimize our designs for how minds work we must eliminate waste.
I am not talking lean here but a much newer and I believe more basic movement called frugal engineering. Strategy + Business just published an excellent article on The Importance of Frugal Engineering.
Born from the idea of remaking products and services for emerging markets, or folks at the so-called “bottom of the pyramid”, frugal engineering calls for a 10x reduction in cost and a focus on essential features. A $16 cell phone, $50 refrigerator, $2000 car, $7000 tractor and an x-ray machine that costs just 1/20th of its normal price are all examples. Indeed, the $16 Nokia 1100 cell phone does nothing but make calls and is the best selling phone of all time. These innovations migrate back up to the “top of the pyramid.”
[ChotuKool a $50 Fridge]
Frugal designs necessarily lower cognitive load because they eliminate functionality that is not essential to what the customer naturally needs. Less complexity, frustration, learning, decisioning and error all lower the mental effort needed to make the most of the functionality. How disruptive will frugal engineering be?
