Why We Overcomplicate Everything – The Power of Simple Ideas

Vinny Sagoo

1 day ago

8 min read

I've created hundreds of magic tricks, games and ideas over the years, and I've realised something slightly strange.

The ideas I'm often most proud of aren't the complicated ones.

They're the ones where somebody looks at me afterwards and says:

“That's ridiculously simple. Why didn't I think of that?”

Why Do We Overcomplicate Everything?

For me, creativity is often about stripping away as much of the noise and nonsense as possible until you're left with the core idea.

Yet we seem to have this strange assumption that if something is more complicated, it must somehow be better.

You see it everywhere.

More features.

More options.

More buttons.

More rules.

More phases.

More technology.

More everything.

But does adding more actually make something better?

Not necessarily.

Sometimes the cleverest thing you can do is take something away.

Complicated Doesn't Mean Better

Magic is a brilliant example.

As magicians, we can watch somebody perform an incredibly difficult piece of sleight of hand and appreciate the technical skill involved.

A lay audience doesn't necessarily know the difference.

You could execute the most technically difficult pass imaginable or use a simple method to achieve the same magical moment.

If the audience experiences the same impossible result, which is actually better?

That's an interesting question.

Because the audience isn't judging your technical difficulty.

They're judging how the magic made them feel.

Easy. Simple. Powerful.

This thinking became the philosophy behind Neo Magic.

ESP: Easy. Simple. Powerful.

For me, a great magic trick should ideally be:

Easy to perform.

Simple to understand.

Powerful in its effect.

That's something I've tried to integrate into almost everything I've created.

And simple doesn't mean lazy.

In fact, I think creating something genuinely simple can be much harder than creating something complicated.

You can always add another component.

Another rule.

Another move.

Another phase.

Another gimmick.

The difficult question is:

What can I remove?

Simplicity Is Harder Than It Looks

Once you've spent weeks or months developing something, removing parts becomes incredibly difficult.

You become attached to them.

You think:

But I love that bit!

Or:

That's really clever!

But does the audience need it?

Does it make the trick stronger?

Does it make the game more fun?

Does it make the product easier to understand?

If not, perhaps it doesn't need to be there.

Sometimes creativity isn't about what you add.

It's about having the confidence to remove things.

Spin: A Ridiculously Simple Magic Trick

A great example from my own magic is an effect I created called Spin.

I wanted something I could wear when performing at gigs and events.

The result was a small black magnetic badge.

At first glance, it simply says:

MAGICIAN.

So I'd introduce myself and say something like:

“I'm the magician. You can tell from my badge.”

Later, I'd force the Ace of Spades.

I'd apparently get the prediction wrong.

Then, while nobody was paying attention to the badge, I'd rotate it 180 degrees.

The next time they looked at it, MAGICIAN had transformed into ACE OF SPADES.

That's it.

You rotate the badge.

Ridiculously simple.

Simple Doesn't Mean Easy to Create

The interesting thing about Spin is that the finished method is incredibly straightforward.

Creating it wasn't.

I spent a long time working with a designer to make the lettering work so that one message transformed into another when rotated.

When I've shown magicians the method, some assumed there must be a flap.

Or perhaps something was removed.

Or added.

No.

You literally rotate the badge.

I even revealed the method on the back of the packaging.

Some people told me:

“You shouldn't tell people that!”

But that's exactly what I love about it.

The method itself creates that lovely reaction:

“Is that really all you're doing?”

Yes!

Why Didn't I See That?

That's one of my favourite reactions in magic and product design.

“Why didn't I see that?”

Or:

“Why didn't I think of that?”

Those reactions tell me that something is both clever and simple.

And another good example is Mental Match.

Mental Match consists of just 17 tiles and a drawstring bag.

But within those simple props are several moments of impossibility.

Mental Match: Making Simple Props Work Harder

The spectator mixes and tosses the tiles and eventually creates a seemingly random playing card.

That matches a prediction on the bag.

Then the same tiles become a game.

The spectator connects matching colours to create a long chain.

When they're finished, the colours at the two ends match the two coloured drawstrings on the bag.

The bag has been sitting there from the beginning.

Nothing has suddenly appeared.

The prediction has effectively been staring at them throughout the entire trick.

They just didn't know it.

That's the kind of simplicity I love.

Can One Prop Do More?

Mental Match also demonstrates another principle I use when simplifying things.

Rather than asking:

“What else can I add?”

I ask:

“What else can the things I've already got do?”

That's a completely different question.

I've already got the tiles.

I've already got the bag.

I've already got the drawstrings.

Can those same objects create another magical moment?

If they can, I don't need to introduce another prop.

That's simplification.

Can You Get Simpler Than Black and White?

I carried exactly the same thinking into games.

When I started developing Mind Burp Games, I wanted to create games with simple rules and surprising moments.

And I'm not sure you can get much simpler than:

Black and white.

That's where Binary Flip came from.

The game uses 45 core cards.

Some are white on both sides.

Some are black on both sides.

And some are black on one side and white on the other.

That's the basic idea.

How Binary Flip Turns Simplicity Into Strategy

The core concept of Binary Flip is incredibly straightforward.

You're playing with black and white cards and trying to play the opposite colour.

But because some cards have different colours on opposite sides, you don't always know what another player is holding.

There are also cards played blind.

Suddenly, this incredibly simple black-and-white system creates:

Strategy.

Memory.

Risk.

Surprise.

Bluffing.

And lots of:

“Wait… what?!”

moments.

There are also optional Flip Cards that add additional twists, including Binary Bomb, Oh No!, Pick 'N' Pass, Sneaky Peek and Skip Shot.

But the important thing is that the core game remains simple.

Simplicity Creates More Possibilities

Something else happened after I created Binary Flip.

Because the components themselves are so simple, I started finding completely different ways of using them.

I've even created a simpler game called Little Binary that I can play with my son, Ari.

Same basic components.

Different game.

And it can start teaching him things such as taking turns, recognising patterns and thinking strategically.

That's one of the unexpected benefits of simplicity.

If you make something too restrictive or complicated, there's sometimes nowhere else for it to go.

Simple systems can give people room to play.

My One-Sentence Test

I've developed a little acid test when I'm creating a magic trick, game or product.

I ask myself:

Can I explain the core idea in one sentence?

If I can't, I start wondering whether I've made it too complicated.

You don't need to explain every rule.

You don't need to explain every feature.

Just the core idea.

What is it?

Why should somebody care?

What makes it interesting?

If explaining that takes five minutes, you may have a problem.

My Legal Career Taught Me the Same Lesson

Interestingly, some of this thinking probably comes from my other career.

I'm also a solicitor.

At university you spend years learning legislation, cases, legal principles, regulations and wonderfully complicated terminology.

Then you start working with actual clients.

And you quickly realise:

Nobody wants to hear all of that!

Your client generally doesn't want a legal lecture.

They want to know:

What does this mean for me?

What can I do?

What's the risk?

What's the solution?

Knowing something complicated is one skill.

Being able to explain it simply is another.

And I think the second skill is often harder.

If People Don't Understand It, They Won't Care

The same principle applies to games and magic.

You might have created the cleverest game mechanic in history.

But if it takes 45 minutes to explain before anyone can start playing, you've created a barrier.

You might have invented an extraordinary magic trick.

But if the audience can't understand what is supposed to be impossible, the magic loses its impact.

That's why Mind Burp Games is built around creating “Wait… what?!” moments.

The audience needs to understand what happened before they can be surprised by it.

Three Is Often Enough

Another thing I've learned is to be careful with phases.

Imagine an Oil and Water routine.

You separate red cards from black cards.

They magically mix.

Great.

Do it again.

Even stronger.

Maybe there's a final impossible climax.

Brilliant.

But do we need another 17 phases?

Probably not.

Personally, I think three is often a really useful maximum.

Beginning.

Development.

Climax.

That's enough.

When Minds Merge and the Power of Three

A good example from my own magic is When Minds Merge.

It has three distinct moments.

There's a challenge-style opening.

There's a number prediction.

Then there's a colour revelation.

Interestingly, it didn't originally have all three.

My friend Kev Mark suggested an additional challenge phase at the beginning.

As soon as he showed me the idea, I thought:

That's the missing piece.

It wasn't adding something for the sake of adding something.

It completed the structure.

And When Minds Merge went on to become one of my bestselling effects.

That's an important distinction.

Simplification doesn't mean removing everything.

It means removing everything that doesn't make the experience better.

Simple Products Need Simple Packaging

This philosophy doesn't stop when I've finished designing the trick or game.

Packaging matters too.

Imagine somebody seeing your product for the first time.

You probably have seconds to communicate what it is.

Is it a game?

A magic trick?

A puzzle?

Who is it for?

Why is it interesting?

If the packaging has words flying everywhere, ten different fonts, endless graphics and far too much information, the customer has to work to understand it.

And customers generally don't want homework.

They'll move on.

More Information Isn't Always Better Communication

We're seeing this more and more with AI-generated designs.

It's incredibly easy to ask AI to create something elaborate.

More text.

More graphics.

More effects.

More visual elements.

But just because technology lets us add more doesn't mean we should.

Sometimes the strongest design is the one where somebody looks at it and understands the message in three seconds.

Again:

What can you remove?

Try the Elevator Pitch Test

Here's another test you can try.

Take something you're working on.

A magic trick.

A game.

A product.

A business idea.

Anything.

Imagine you've stepped into a lift with somebody who knows absolutely nothing about it.

You've got about 30 seconds.

Can you explain:

What is it?

Why is it different?

Why should I care?

Then ask that person what they think you've just described.

If they've completely misunderstood it, don't blame them.

Look at your explanation.

Then simplify it.

Here's My Challenge for You

Pick something you're currently working on.

It doesn't have to be creative.

It could be something at work.

A hobby.

A process.

A presentation.

An email.

A game.

A magic trick.

Now ask yourself:

What could I remove?

Could you eliminate one step?

Could you use fewer words?

Could you remove a rule?

Could you combine two stages?

Could something you already have perform two jobs?

And most importantly:

Would removing it actually make the end result stronger?

You might be surprised.

Simple Isn't the Opposite of Clever

That's probably the biggest thing I want people to take away from this.

Simple isn't the opposite of clever.

Sometimes simple is clever.

Anyone can keep adding things.

The skill is knowing when you've got enough.

The best ideas don't necessarily make somebody say:

“Wow, that's incredibly complicated.”

Sometimes the much better reaction is:

“Wait… WHAT? That's it?”

Followed immediately by: