The mighty smartphone currently rules all information gathering mediums. I much prefer to read the news on my phone versus my computer. I strongly prefer facebook on my phone versus a computer. About the only thing I prefer a computer for is for writing and video.
Too often people confuse a larger screen with the ability to cram more information in. Check out cnn.com. On a desktop, it shows three columns of news with four distinct sections and an enormous headline. On mobile, it’s simply a vertical stream of news you can scroll past. Your brain doesn’t need to sort through the information format.
I played trombone in jazz bands through college. I wasn’t great but I was serviceable. But I learned an invaluable (if cliched) design principle during those many years: value the white space. If you fill every single moment up with sound there is no place for the mind to stop and appreciate what it just heard.
You don’t have to cram as much information as possible into people’s faces just because the screen size supports it. How often have you seen PowerPoint presentations where someone decided to decrease the font size on the text so that they wouldn’t have to edit it to identify the real key points? Editing is about ensuring that the person reading is given the ability to absorb and process. If you focus only on absorption, you quickly overwhelm your reader.
Simply because you now have a 65″ television screen doesn’t mean that you should start including more information into the scene. A clean landscape view actually has MORE power on a larger screen because you can understand the scale and depth much better. Simple should always triumph overcomplicated.
Are you letting simple win?