Two Fixes for Clutter (Part 1)

Ever been in a situation where the design for your museum, exhibition, experience, wall — let’s say whatsis — is cluttered? It’s unclear and overstuffed. Exhibitions are particularly clutter-prone.

What to do? You have two options.

Which is very interesting. Because you might think you only have one.

1. Reduce <— common, easy
2. Add Even More <— rare, not for the faint of heart

Option 1: Reduce

If your whatsis is cluttered, the typical cure is to reduce. How?

You could subtract. Pick away bit by bit. Warning: tedious. Hard to know when to stop.

You could purge (better). Choose the three things, and the one idea, most fundamental to your whatsis. Start there and build back, wary of clutter. Leave some empty space this time.

And if your whatsis is a room or larger, you could also try using One Idea Per Surface, At Most to help declutter.

Here’s the thing:
Clutter has two solutions, not just one: reduce, or add even more.

Next up — Option 2: Add Even More.

Warmly,
Jonathan