While studying sado, I began to appreciate the aesthetic simplicity of the ritual, an art that is an expression of fundamental Zen principles such as purity, tranquility, a respect for nature, and the desire to live in harmony with it. I first learned of wabi-sabi while studying sado (Japanese tea ceremony) many years ago in the Shimokita Hanto of Aomori, a rural part of northern Japan-a perfect place to experience traditional Japanese values and concepts. Naturalness (i.e., nothing artificial or forced)Īll of these principles can be applied to slide design, Web design, and so on. Suggestion (rather than literal description) The Zen aesthetic values include (but are not limited to) the following:
Instead, the combination of your words, along with the visual images you project, should motivate the viewer and arouse his imagination, helping him to empathize with your idea and visualize it beyond what is visible in the ephemeral PowerPoint slide before him. You do not need to pound every detail into the head of each member of your audience either visually or verbally. In the world of slide presentations, you do not always need to visually spell everything out. Less color-subdued and elegant usage of color, less clutter.” This is the original ‘less is more’ concept. The highest level of taste moves beyond the usage of brilliant colors and heavy ornamentation to a simple and subdued refinement that is the beauty of shibumi, which represents the ultimate in good taste through conscious reserve. “Their (Japanese) conceptualization relegates elaborate ornamentation and vivid color usage to the bottom of the taste levels…excess requires no real thought or creativity. In Wabi-Sabi Style (Gibbs Smith Publishers), authors James and Sandra Crowley comment on the Japanese deep appreciation of beauty in this sense: Concerning visual communication and graphic design, shibumi represents elegant simplicity and articulate brevity, an understated elegance. Shibumi is a principle that can be applied to many aspects of life. Kawana, commenting on the design of traditional Japanese gardens, says, “The designer must adhere to the concept of miegakure since Japanese believe that in expressing the whole, the interest of the viewer is lost.” Shibumi (Elegance)
The suggestive mode of expression is a key Zen aesthetic. Complication and elaboration are easy…and common. Graphic designers show restraint by including only what is necessary to communicate the particular message for the particular audience. The best musicians, for example, know never to overplay but instead to be forever mindful of the other musicians and find their own space within the music and the moment they are sharing. The aesthetic concept of naturalness or shizen “prohibits the use of elaborate designs and over refinement,” according to Dr. Koichi Kawana, “Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.” When you examine your visuals, then, can you say that you are getting the maximum impact with a minimum of graphic elements, for example? Take a moment to consider the slides that you have used in the past-did they embody the spirit of kanso? Shizen (Naturalness) In the kanso concept, beauty and visual elegance are achieved by elimination and omission. Kanso (Simplicity)Ī key tenet of the Zen aesthetic is kanso or simplicity.
Still, we can look to some of the concepts in the Zen aesthetic to help us improve our own visuals with an eye toward simplicity. Zen itself is not concerned with judging this design to be good or that design to be bad. Since that time, some popular patterns and styles have developed for the layout out of the stones, known as Ishigumi (石組み).Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, 3rd Edition The first pure dry landscape gardens were built during the politically very turbulent Muromachi period (1336 - 1573). In many dry gardens, plants play an important role. It is called yohaku no bi – the beauty of empty space.ĭry landscape gardens are famous for using only gravel and rocks, although in fact this is not quite true. While people tend to focus on the stone settings of a dry landscape garden, the skill of the person who creates such a garden is more accurately reflected by the empty space between the stone groups. Water is instead replaced by gravel, giving the impression of a dry ocean or river. While monks do use them when practicing Zen, meditation more commonly takes place in groups in large rooms, often with no window.ĭry landscape gardens lack one elements that ties together all other styles of Japanese garden: the water. The dry landscape garden (枯山水 Karesansui) is the best known type of Japanese garden type and is often called Zen garden.
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