Creeping featurism is a serious problem that provides a surplus of complexity to users, and causes user dissatisfaction and eventual sales loss. The purpose of this study is to find the opposite of creeping featurism. In examining the situation of design practitioners, this paper discusses why it is hard to get out of the design traps of creeping featurism and why simplicity is not enough for achieving the opposite. It was suggested that we need new design management strategies to prevent and escape creeping featurism.
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