Less is more, or more is more?

As a designer who think "less is more" and always like to symbolize my design, currently I received an assignment, a weird assignment, in which I should break my design reference and design something I think "ugly".

The reason I think it is weird is because that the designer should be always design something based on his or her aesthetic and the design "rules" always be followed.

So I did it and the result is amazing!

I don't like photo collage and don't like to put lots of elements on my design either. But after I tried it, I am kind of love it. Now I totally understand the reason my professor asked us to do such a weird design, in which, I found something in me...

The first one below is the original design, which I did at last semester. If you know something about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, you should know that his famous pose is sitting on the chair that he designed, with his favorite cigar. I symbolized this pose into my design and the result is quite dynamic.

less is more


The another version - more is more


Which do you prefer?