The MUJI Design Awards

Awarding simplicity...now there's a thought. MUJI, have just relaunched their website with an outline of their design mantra - simple, timeless, functional design classics. It's refreshing to see a company getting back to basics and I think they've judged the zeitgeist pretty well. In a time where our lives are getting more and more complicated, increasingly revolving around technology, I think companies who offer simple solutions to everyday problems/needs will do well. In the same way that people are switching to organic, locally produced foods, I think people will begin to look for companies like Muji to lead the way in simplifying their lives.

To emphasise their commitment to this philosphy, MUJI have recently concluded their international design competition and the winner, a straw straw clearly demonstrates what they're looking for: simple, functional, back to basics design.

I've also been watching a lot of TED recently and I came across this talk by Barry Schwarz on the Paradox of Choice. His idea is that although conventional wisdom dictates that freedom of choice is one of the fundamental foundations of a modern, free, democratic society, the western world has gone too far down this route, to the point that we are paralysed by the amount of choice we have. So instead of choice enriching our lives, it often does the opposite, making us despair over whether we have made the right choice or not.

The day after I saw this

and I annoyed a number of people behind me by faffing about, trying to pick a drink from the myriad of choices. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if there was a coffeeshop that made things simple for us, that just served great coffee, plain, great filter coffee, instead of a venti low fat soy decaf chai latte? It might save us all some queuing time and some grey hairs!