All it takes to figure out what's hot (and what's not) is a quick look at what subjects keep cropping up over and over again. And right now it seems like simplicity is in.

The trend seemed to first crop up in the last month or so with a post by Bob Scoble about "anti-marketing design" and its link to success on the Web.

This was quickly followed by a flurry of back-and-forth blogging about "ugly design" and why many designers are "missing the point" when it comes to designing killer sites.

The argument is appealing for its counter-intuitiveness and egalitarian bent: "Design" is window dressing and obscures the "real" purpose of the site. "Pretty" doesn't matter. What matters is functionality.

While this debate garnered more than its share of pixels, it really isn't all that new: Jakob Nielsen and the usability pundits have been pushing this point for a long time now.

Since the first Web designer figured out how to include the BLINK tag or cut up a complex image into a table, the "form vs. function" debate has been raging.

But hot on the heels of the "ugly site" design, another story's cropped up that's getting a lot of links.

Last week, the AP wire service sent out a story declaring that many cell phone users are beginning to lash out against bloated functionality.

After an initial posting, the story (in various forms) found its way everywhere, from Wired to Slashdot. Clearly it struck a nerve…the very same nerve struck earlier by the "ugly Web site debate."

So what? It's interesting enough to see the ebb and flow of stories across the blogosphere, and it's interesting to see what people are interested in. But to merely track blips in the zeitgeist doesn't really get us anywhere. What we really need to look at is why stories like these get so much interest and what they say about how we as Web publishers need to be thinking.

In short, people are paying attention to these stories because they want simplicity. While the argument might get spun out into "anti-marketing" or "ugly design" arguments (on the Web site) and "just gimme a simple phone, dammit!" (on the cell phone side), they both speak to an overriding urge that's driving most consumers these days.

Bombarded with choices, overloaded with pop-up windows and video ads on the Web and multiple "crawls" or "bugs" on their TV screens, and cell phones and other gadgets that are starting to resemble Dan Clowes' "Hi Fi Pizza," Web users are starting to feel the overload. Simple design and simple functions offer them a refuge like never before.

If you're not a believer, take a look at the most popular (by traffic) sites on the Web.

While it's debatable just how "simple" Yahoo is, most of the other big contenders such as Google are simple, quick, clear and to-the-point.

Up-and-comers like Flickr and YouTube are, of course, popular because of their democratic media publishing capabilities, but they're also astoundingly clean and simple in their design.

Jumping off the Web into the world of "real" products, the iPod is the perfect example of how simplicity in design can lead to market dominance.

Sure, there are other media players out there on the market that have more memory, more features, and bigger screens (and cost less money), but none have been able to match the simplicity and clean design (both in the case and the interface) as the iPod.

The argument isn't over "ugly" or "bloated" or "anti-marketing"…those approaches (even though they might be appealing from an "I told you so!" anti-designer standpoint) miss the point.

The point is that it's simple design that works, simple design that provides both aesthetic delight and highly-targeted functionality.

"Simple" does not have to mean ugly (check out these gorgeous product designs if you think simple and ugly mean the same thing).

Simple means giving people only what they need to get the job done while providing an easy way to access the features they might need when they get a bit more proficient.

Simple means understanding users…and that's the biggest lesson we all need to learn.

Sean Carton is the chief strategy officer of idfive, where he helps clients understand the constantly changing intersections between design, marketing, communication, and technology.

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