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Tanjun — Japanese for Simplicity

Van Murray ·
Sea grass

Tanjun (単純) is the Japanese word for simplicity.

It's a concept I keep coming back to — in product design, in business operations, in the tools I choose to use. The best systems are the ones you barely notice. The best products are the ones that do exactly what they promise and nothing more.

There's a reason I still wear the same shoe that has given me the best value of anything in my closet: it does its job perfectly, every time, without fuss.

That's the test I apply to software, to workflows, to organizations. Does it do what it's supposed to do? Is it simple enough that anyone can use it? Does it stay out of the way?

When the answer is yes — that's tanjun.

It's the design principle behind everything I build.

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