09 — Judgment Is Subtraction.

At the beginning of a project, we add.
Ideas. References. Possibilities. Words. Images.
Eventually, adding stops helping.
The work becomes clearer only when something disappears.
Removing is difficult because every element once had a reason to exist. Judgment means deciding that the reason is no longer strong enough.
Creativity is not always the ability to add another idea.
Sometimes it is knowing exactly what can disappear—and having the courage to remove it.

BEHIND THE SPREAD

I have spent countless hours adding things to designs—and even more time taking them away. The final work often looks simple precisely because the decisions behind it were not.