how to...

...do everything better

Today's piece of cool comes from John Maeda (via metacool), who gives us the Laws of Simplicity. To see how much details matter, read his commentary below:

When sitting down at a restaurant in Minneapolis, I noticed the waiter replaced my white napkin with a black one. Apparently the tradition here is that if you are wearing black trousers or a dark skirt, the reasoning is that a white linen napkin might leave visible lint on your clothing so they immediately swap it for a black one. Such careful attention to detail surely develops trust. I wonder how many of these kind of subtle details are managed at finer eating establishments. I looked for a list on the Web and couldn’t find anything comprehensive. The closest I could find were references to chilled silverware when serving cold appetizers, but I figure there are a few more subconciously discernable practices in the presentation of a meal out there … my hunt begins.

Hmmm...I dunno about you, but returning from a 5-star hotel that "stylishly" combined marble corridors with plastic chairs and tables, I'm very impressed by gestures like the one described above. Whatever. I guess most of the people there didn't even notice the plastic stuff. Might explain their good opinion about the place. Hummm...this makes me think about another question: is raising the level a good thing? Or maybe getting money out of people's ignorance is the way to go? Obviously, I'd say one should do "the right thing", but lately I've been pretty dissappointed when I did that. Doesn't anyone believe in that anymore? Is it so over-rated? So...pasee? :)

Wut do you think, guys?