Dissolve Complexity, Deliver Simplicity: The Drawbackwards Way

Ward Andrews
By Ward Andrews
Cover Image for Dissolve Complexity, Deliver Simplicity: The Drawbackwards Way

Complexity has killed beloved products and brands: Blockbuster, Kodak, Polaroid, Maybach, even government organizations like NASA.

With so many users and stakeholders, enterprise companies are especially at risk of death by complexity. Although they want to add more features and make their products look better, their efforts often backfire.

The businesses that are winning today understand the world has evolved, and they need to evolve with it.

It’s not about adding features – it’s about deciding what to leave out.

It’s not about making something look better – it’s about making it work better and adding more value for its users.

It’s not about one moment – it’s about the overall experience.

Drawbackwards designs business success through meaningful products and experiences. We do this with a world-class team that prioritizes:

  • Clarity over complexity
  • People over process
  • Long-term results over quick fixes
  • Value over vanity
  • Trust over micromanagement
  • Heart over apathy
  • Improvement over contentment
  • Optimism over negativity
  • Proactivity over reactivity

Through this lens, we dissolve complexity and deliver simplicity.

This is what our team feels called to do and what we do better than anyone else. We don’t just make pretty designs. We don’t just create slick products with lots of bells and whistles. We deliver clarity and simplicity that lead to innovation and success.

How do we know those qualities result in success? We see it every day.

Think of companies like Slack and Tesla. They’re dominating the market by keeping a laser focus on clarity and simplicity.

Slack dissolves complexity by shifting the responsibility of making decisions from the user to the code. Their notification system is a perfect example. Rather than constantly overwhelming people with notifications, Slack only delivers the right messages, in the right place, at the right time. Features like this have catapulted them from a startup to an industry leader valued at $5 billion in just a few years.

Tesla delivers simplicity by applying Elon Musk’s crystal-clear vision (“Accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible”) to every decision and every product. Musk believes the best way to convince consumers to buy electric cars is to make them simpler, more reliable, and more attractive than gas-powered cars. Therefore, his team designed the Tesla Model S with just 18 moving parts (compared to the average of more than 1,500). Fewer parts reduced production and maintenance costs. This was one of the many decisions that made the Model S the best-selling full-size luxury sedan within its first year, contributing to Tesla’s market valuation of around $50 billion.

Clarity and simplicity are crucial in our personal lives too. Consider the last time you took a road trip. You didn’t just get in the car and hope you arrived safely. You defined your destination, then drew backwards and mapped the simplest, clearest route to get there.

Clarity and simplicity can even save lives. We’ve worked with several healthcare companies whose users are doctors. If doctors can find the exact information they need quickly, they can provide the quality care their patients need and drive revenue for their organization. If they can’t, people could die.

Clarity and simplicity are equally important for internal employees as they are for consumers. For example, our client First Solar was using an industry-leading tool to create solar energy predictions when bidding on new power plant construction projects. Although the tool was the industry standard, it took three hours to use, produced inaccurate results, and was beyond difficult to use. By redesigning it with our help, First Solar cut internal production time by over 80% and significantly improved accuracy — both huge wins for their users and their business.

Want to just make some visual updates so your product, website, or app looks better on the surface? There are plenty of designers who can help. Want to dissolve complexity and deliver simplicity so you can get unstuck and achieve the results you’ve been looking for? That’s how Drawbackwards can help.