The Creative Power of Constraints

Before you can think outside the box, you need a box.

Design your own constraints and see your creativity flourish.

My favorite is time: what can I accomplish in the next 20 minutes?

> Charles Eames’s distinction between forced compromises and willingly accepted constraints reveals a profound truth — in the delicate balance between structure and freedom lies the sweet spot where creativity thrives.

Suggested constraint: "write this post without AI".

If you ask random people to draw a horse, they will give you excuses why they can't draw. Tell them to draw horse using only rectangles and suddenly everybody is a painter.

For anyone interested in more constraint reading, highly highly recommend Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander.

IMHO it should be required reading for all programmers and designers.

"The enemy of art is the absence of limitations" --Orson Welles

Remember when this idea bred those fake minimalist preachers? Mistaking constraint-based design for asceticism?

Too much constraints, you end up in a corner.

It reminds me of Windows Metro. That was good constraint-based design. Lots of clever thinking in the good direction. Windows 8 was great (hey, Apple copied some of it, the highest form of praise).

Eames was smart. Translating those things to tech is often a challenge. Keeping the thing human is difficult.