BOOK REVIEW: 'In Pursuit of Elegance'
Less Is More in the Arts, Product Design, Marketing
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
What do In-N-Out Burger, a California-based fast-food chain; the final episode of "The Sopranos"; and Apple's Steve Jobs have in common?
All are examples of creative subtraction, says Matthew E. May in the paperback reissue of "In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing" (Broadway Books, 224 pages, $14.00). The book was published in harcover last year by Broadway Books in a slightly different form.
They all have something missing in their goal to achieve elegance. In-N-Out Burger has only four basic items on its regular menu, but those who are addicted to the fast-food chain have discovered that they can order variations on the basic Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double-Double and French Fries. This simplicity has led to remarkable success for a chain founded in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Park.
Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, has eliminated the keypad, using a touchpad for his products from the iPod to the iPhone and the latest gadget from Apple, the iPad. May writes that even the elevators in the multilevel Apple stores use touchpads instead of buttons.
Airing June 10, 2007 the final episode of the HBO series "The Sopranos" -- taking place with a family dinner in a New Jersey diner called Holsten's -- cut to a black screen instead of tying up the loose ends of the story, so we don't know whether Tony Soprano was "whacked" by the "guy in the Members Only jacket" or someone else in the diner or whether he'll return in a feature film. The inconclusive ending by the show's creator David Chase stunned and outraged 12 million viewers of the episode, resulting in countless blogs about whether Tony lives or dies. I've read many of the blogs and they remind me of those for the award-winning AMC series "Mad Men," which features episodes that practice creative subtraction, leading to elegance in television.
All three examples, as well as the dozens more in May's book, share four common characteristics, which are May's "4 S's""
* Symmetry, which helps solve problems of structure, order and aesthetics. We are so adept at noticing a lack of symmetry that we can "fill in" what is missing. What appears to be missing isn't: It's at once absent and yet present.
* Seduction addresses the problem of creative engagement. It captivates any attention and activates any imagination. Leaving something to the imagination, open to interpretation, creates an aura of mystery, compelling us to find answers.
* Subtraction helps us solve the problems of economy. Doing less, conserving doesn't come naturally. We humans are natural born adders, hard wired to push, collect, hoard, store and consume. The same drive to fill in, to add is exactly why elegance, being subtractive, is so elusive. The trick is in understanding what to eliminate and how to go about it to achieve elegance.
* Sustainability helps us solve that problem, implying a process that is both repeatable and lasting. To consistently find elegant solutions we need to change how we approach problems, so that the principles of symmetry, seduction and subtraction can be applied effectively, over and over.
I found my own example after reading a story in the online site of the New York Times on Sept. 8. Headlined "Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way," the piece by Stephanie Clifford deals with the "packaging rage" that buyers of products online from Amazon discover when they receive a clamshell or blister package of a product, say a USB thumb drive or a 4-port USB hub, to name two products I recently bought at Big Lots and Walmart, respectively. These are the products sealed behind a tough plastic clamshell blister that can maim the unsuspecting consumer and require him/her to use scissors and maybe even a box cutter (chainsaw, anyone?) to gain access to the product.
Reporter Clifford interviewed Stephen Lester, science director at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, a nonprofit environmental group, who says "A lot of it is just the inertia of making changes. Whenever you have a system set up to run your business, making any change means time and money.”
Clifford writes that "For brick and mortar retailers, traditional packaging remains popular because it can help deter theft. But in Web shopping, there is general agreement that the alternative packaging is a hit with consumers, and that it is simple for packaging companies to create. It is also environmentally friendly, using recycled and recyclable cardboard rather than plastic and wire ties, quicker to produce than the retail packaging and costs less."
Clifford: "Now Amazon, still determined to get more manufacturers to sign up, is making the case by taking the angry customer feedback on old-school packages directly to the product makers. Compared to the traditional versions of the products, frustration-free products have earned on average a 73 percent reduction in negative feedback on the Amazon site."
Brands like Duracell, Bounty and Tide introduced their own frustration-free packages, Clifford writes. "Duracell, which offers a 28-pack in a frustration-free version on Amazon, had 'been getting rave reviews from consumers about the packs on Amazon,' said Bob Jacobs, Duracell marketing director. Mr. Jacobs said Duracell made that packaging available to all Web sites that sold the 28-pack, but a check on Target.com and Walmart.com showed that those were still selling only the plastic-encased retail packs."
I don't know if my example meets May's requirements for elegance, but I think it does.
By the way, the HP thumb drive, a really handy device that stores up to 4 gigabytes of content -- photos, documents, etc. -- was opened, very carefully, without loss of blood, something I can't say has always happened. The Targus 4-Port Hub, a duplicate of one I have on my Mac laptop, sits propped up next to my iMac, awaiting the day when I run out of USB ports. The Targus Hub is protected by plastic that I'm guessing would survive a nuclear attack.
May's story-driven narrative tells us why we need more elegance in design, engineering, art, urban planning, sports, and work. May, in the tradition of books such as Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" and Peter Miller's forthcoming "The Smart Swarm" (which I will review later this month) presents surprising evidence that what’s “not there” often trumps what is. One caution: You may have to read this book more than once, because the simplicity of elegance isn't always easy to comprehend on a first reading.
A personal note: In my 16 years living in Los Angeles, I occasionally ate at In-N-Out Burger. More often than not, I'd head for the nearest Fatburger, a popular chain whose motto was "You Can't Beat Our Meat." But my all-time favorite store was Trader Joe's, a specialty grocery store that embodies the elements of elegance in many ways, including that of subtracting brand names, substituting high-quality store brands and marketing that transformed what could be just another convenience store to an upscale shopping experience. I'm happy to say that Aldi, the German-based owners of Trader Joe's, haven't messed with the formula established by founder Joe Coulombe when he opened his first store in Pasadena in 1958. Trader Joe's has 344 stores in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
About the Author
Matthew E. May is the author of "The Elegant Solution," which won the Shingo Research Prize for Excellence. A popular speaker, he lectures to corporations, governments, and universities around the world, and is currently Senior Lecturer on Creativity and Innovation at Pepperdine University Graduate School of Business in Malibu, CA. He spent nearly a decade as a close adviser to Toyota, and his articles have appeared in national publications such as USA Today, Strategy+Business, and Quality Progress. He has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, he lives in Southern California.