Sometimes More is Better. More Money, for example, or More Bacon.
But usually More is just lazy. Because, let’s be honest (which I always am anyway, honestly, so there was really no need to say that), it’s easier to add More than it is to identify what’s really wrong and possibly, horror upon horrors, take something out that’s already there.
At worst, sometimes More is an excuse. “Sure, it could be better, but look at HOW MUCH OF IT THERE IS!!!” That 18-pound block of spicy cheese, for example.
The problem with More is it tends to dilute. It muddies. It distracts us from the thing we were trying so hard to accomplish or to communicate in the first place.
Great design is often more about subtracting than adding. More about removing the things that just don’t quite fit, that don’t move us the direction we need to go, that don’t support or enhance the experience we’re trying to create.
Unfortunately, More is often our default measure of Value. This book is 26 pages, and that one is 692. Clearly the first isn’t worth $9.99. This game takes 30 minutes to complete, and that one over 100 hours. This salad fits in a bowl, and there’s a whole buffet over there.
But More is rarely an indication of anything other than volume.
So how long should that book be? Long enough to tell the story, and no more.