This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about entrepreneurship, design, experience, simplicity, constraints, pop culture, our products, products we like, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago.

tina 29 Nov 05

bless mark hurst.

Ruminator 29 Nov 05

I like Ten Rules for Web Startups by Evan Williams (Rule #1: Be Narrow).

Pete Freitag 29 Nov 05

Last week I posted 8 Simple Quotes a collection of quotes on simplicity to my blog. The quotes are from Albert Einstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Teller, Walter Bender, Dr. Koichi Kawana, and Jason Fried (your in good company there Jason!).

MMI 29 Nov 05

I’ve coined a new term: simpltry.

Before I give the definition, I want to say this doesn’t apply to 37 signals, or even to this posting (just seemed like a good place to post it), but rather is a side effect of Jason and Co.’s great work, and the lack of planning and real thought by imitators.

simpltry: The school of thought, where using the word simplicity negates the use for hard work, planning, forethought and original ideas - as if by magic.

I’ve noticed a few places that seem to be hailing simplicity as the next big thing, without really thinking about what they’re saying. You can’t just say - we do everything simple. There’s still a lot of planning, and hard work that needs to go into your projects. Maybe we should stop using the word simplicity and instead focus on the word elegance? A lot harder to fake a concept like elegance, I would think.

MMI 29 Nov 05

Oh, and that wasn’t directed to any commenters or anything. Just a thought about the blogosphere as a whole. Maybe I should take a cue from Audiocrush and just say, MMI is not responsible for anything. Ever. :)