Bring On Da Optimum Sensory Stimulation

April 27, 2005

John Maeda's Sixth* Law of Simplicity:

#6 -- In order to "feel," you gotta have noise.
Too much noise, and all you've got is noise.

This law strikes us with less inevitability, or perhaps we mean more circularity. It seems to come from the same vat as #3, and expresses the general principle present in various approaches to learning enhancement that moderately stimulate the senses with color and movement to assist engagement and foster learning.

The question is always, what noise is good noise, and what amount falls short of overwhelming? What is the Goldilocks' Just-Right range?

Like garnish on a plate. Chez Dilys' cook, an aspiring 90-second gourmet, has been testing cooking-contest recipes, and struggles with whether jumbo shrimp tastes better with haricots verts, mango, or jicama. She's almost narrowed the choice to the hari weensy string beans. Garnish can make or mangle tempting food presentation.

Likewise background sounds, parallel activity, and multi-tasking can encourage or cancel effort. Not to mention individual difference by situation and temperament. We remember an aggressive T-shirt slogan: "If it's too loud, you're too old."

We saw it years ago. The wearer is no longer very young.

Heh.

*##1-5

And, darn, we missed Maeda's Austin lecture.