Quickleaf
Legend
I think it's something D&D needs, especially as new gamers enter the hobby. Looking up spells and tracking spell slots/points can be fun for some, but a drag for others. Reducing that barrier to entry seems like a good move to me.
Here's my quick-n-dirty brainstorm...
Mage (new class)
Mages are hedge wizards following an apprenticeship, learned scholars with a basic understanding of spellcasting, or adventurers with an intuitive magical trick up their sleeves. Their magic is of a simpler sort than wizards, based more on superstition, emotion, and philosophy than anything resembling a cohesive magical theory. Unlike sorcerers, their magic does not come from their blood, and unlike warlocks it does not come from bargaining with a powerful amoral being.
The class would get cantrips like a wizard, but no spell slots, and no "spells" in the traditional sense.
It would gain its own "spells" at pre-defined levels, each usable 1/short or long rest. There'd only be about 9 mage spells to choose from, such as: Blasting, Charming, Hiding, Knowing, Moving, Seeking, Trapping, Tricking, and Warding (there could be better names). The mage would have a total number of spells equal to their proficiency bonus, so 2 at 1st level, 3 at 5th level, 4 at 9th level, 5 at 13th level, and 6 at 17th level.
Selecting a spell would involve getting upgrade features at certain levels. For example, let's say there's a Charming spell. At 1st level, it is described as charm person or maybe a weaker version of suggestion, then at 3rd level they get full suggestion, then a feature at 6th level making it so creatures affected by your suggestion don't remember it, at 11th level mass suggestion, and maybe at 15th level an option for extending the duration a creature is charmed by you to weeks or months. The key to making this simpler would be building onto the existing language rather than creating an entirely new spell, so the player goes "Oh! OK, so this is like suggestion, but with XY!"
This class would have 3 archetypes focused on which implement the mage uses. Orbs/Rods for Control, Amulets/Wands for Damage, and Staves/Tomes for Utility (though using perhaps more flowery language...such as some of those flowery wizard school names presented early in the D&D Next playtest but abandoned). Most of the archetype features would be brief: Wand Focus 3rd level: Your spell attacks with a wand score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. or Staff Focus 3rd level: When you get to ask a question from a spell, you can ask an extra question. However, each archetype would present a spell unique to that archetype (e.g. fireball for blasting, confusion for control, divination for utility) acquired at 7th level.
As I'm envisioning it, say you have a young kid of 6-8 years old join the game or a casual player who loves Harry Potter join the game. Your party quickly reaches 3rd level or is already there. If they were playing a sorcerer, they'd have 8 spells to keep track of (4 cantrips + 4 spells), not to mention to sorcery points and spell slots. If they were playing a mage, they'd just have 5 spells to keep track of (3 cantrips + 2 spells), and the difference would become increasingly apparent the higher level the party got.
EDIT: Comparing this hypothetical mage to a warlock...the mage gets more spell uses (6 at 20th) than the warlock gets spell slots (4 at 20th), but gets a drastically reduced list of spells known. For the mage spell uses = spells known (6 at 20th), essentially, whereas the warlock tracks more spells known (15 at 20th).
One important note about designing this class with its Short Rest Recharging spells, is that it's similar to the warlock. So the power level of any Short Rest Recharging spells would need to cap off at 5th level. Anything emulating a 6th-9th level spell would need to be limited to 1/day.
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