Forget simple. Stupid.

Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS), they say.

Don’t make things so complex. No one reads. People have the attention span of a gold fish. 8 seconds tops.

And so, we pare down. Streamline. Cut the copy. Eliminate the soul.

Cries for simplicity are everywhere. In the things we buy. The news we consume. The brands we create. The brief encounters we barely share. No time. We’re busy people after all.

News flash: Keeping it Simple can actually make us Stupid. Not to mention stressed & depressed

Simplicity can be stunting. Dull. Joyless. Uninspiring. Boring. And as it turns out a brain drain.

I recently read Thomas Heatherwick’s book “Humanize” A Maker’s Guide to Designing Our Cities. His premise: “Humans like complexity. As animals we’re naturally curious, intelligent & easily bored. We gravitate to interesting things that invite us to look more in order to understand them.”

When things become flat & shiny & one dimensional, they become monotonous & sterile. Everything winds up looking & sounding the same. Can you say “boring!”

He says, boring is a state of psychological deprivation. Just as the body suffers when deprived of food & water, the brain suffers when deprived of sensory information.

Our imagination is starved.

Every second, our senses deliver some 11 million pieces of information about our surroundings to our brain. When our brain is deprived of information, it thinks what the f- & panics. Cortisol, our stress hormone, spikes. Yikes. We become susceptible to cancer, heart disease, stroke. One scientific survey in the UK found that those who report being bored are more likely to die younger than those who are not bored.

Boredom was also can accelerate nasty behaviors. Hostility. Anger. Anxiety. Addiction. He calls it a blandemic.

Net-net. Boredom bad. Complex good.

Complexity comes with nuance, depth, consideration. It keeps life rich & satisfying. Captures & holds our attention. Beyond 8 seconds.

Complexity is awe-inspiring whether architecture, song or story. It gives us pleasure. It’s the difference between a peck on the cheek & a deep, passionate, lingering kiss.

Complexity makes us think. Demands we give things a second look. Then a third. Each exposure revealing something new.

I’m here today to make a case for complexity. I’m tired of dumbing things down. Simplifying things so much that they lose all substance & soul.

Simpler, flatter, more streamlined may be great when Marie Kondoing your bedroom. But it sucks for inspiring your life & your work.

Simple may be the reason brands are so damn boring these days. They wind up passionless. Cookie cutter. Redundant. One just like the next.

We need more imagination–less imitation. We need to bring the soul back to our spaces, our lives, our consumption. Our communication.

Here’s to more complex ideas. Visual & verbal diversity. Stimulation. Not stagnation. Our brains need a sensual feast.

The famous quote “God is in the details,” means when we pay attention to the smallest details, we can experience their higher beauty, shape & texture. Details register consciously & subconsciously. Are critical to making things “sing”.

So next time someone (ill) advises you to KISS, tell them KISS.

My ass!