Something that I've often seen in the music production community is the taping over of logos on effects pedals. The first time I saw this, I assumed that it was done to hide the effects that the artist was using, or to hide their "secret sauce". The more time that has gone on, however, I have realized that artists often do this because they find certain gear designs to be distracting.

For instance, if one has a piece of audio gear that is decorated with eye-catching text and/or images, an artist may choose to cover that design up with masking tape to keep themselves focused on the ultimate goal of their artistry: to make interesting sounds. (These choices are, of course, up to the discretion of the user of the tool.)

A true tool does not detract or distract from its true utility or purpose. It is our job to recognize when a tool is drawing attention to itself, rather than the task the tool was designed for. Would a hammer be more or less useful if it had a dragon burned into its handle? Would a screwdriver be more or less useful if it projected movies out of its tip?

The more that I have adopted this mindset, the more that I have noticed distracting design patterns not just in my own audio gear, but in the design and configuration of my digital devices.

Digital devices and applications, especially in the smartphones category, are often marketed as tools to help us to "save time" or "supercharge our productivity". However, it is increasingly apparent that large corporations have a growing incentive to increase user engagement with their products in the name of profit.

The prime exmaple of this is social media, which has devolved into a nearly vampiric system in which users are subliminally coerced into spending obscene amounts of time consuming content.

It is our job as consumers to effectively "tape over the logos" of our digital tools. What bloat can we cut from our digital lives? Do we really need a widget on our homescreen that shows us tweets? Do we really need notifications for this application? Do we really need email updates weekly?

The more we implement essentialism into the way we use modern technology, the more that technology will serve us. Not the other way around.

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