What makes a functional design feel effortless?

Some designs feel intuitive from the first interaction, while others make even simple tasks feel complicated. Often, the difference isn’t how much detail is visible, but how carefully the designer has considered what the user needs to do. I’m curious how other designers think about that balance: when does removing an element make a design clearer, and when does it take away information people actually need? What’s one design decision you’ve seen that made a product or interface noticeably easier to use?