A project I'm working on currently (not public-facing) is a relatively complex design tool for a manufacturer. One of the tools they were using was quite clunk

A project I'm working on currently (not public-facing) is a relatively complex design tool for a manufacturer. One of the tools they were using was quite clunky and was somewhat "option heavy". What I decided to do (and am glad I did) was condense alot of the "option" stuff into basic gestures or movements. I use the term "gestures" liberally in that this isn't a mobile or tablet app with touchscreen interface. It's a browser-based desktop app where the only real interaction occurs through mouse / keyboard input. Given that it's a 'design tool' there are probably alot of things about the app that couldn't be transferred to a typical data-driven GUI, but I think having this frame of mind when designing the UI / UX can probably help in alot of unexpected ways. I think the general takeaway here is that "more options doesn't always mean more buttons" :)