While minimalism might conjure up images of uncomfortable chairs and all white interior decorating, in truth, minimalism is a powerful design tool, especially for web design. The roots of minimalistic design are bound in Japanese art culture during the 20th and 21st century. However, the phenomena spread quickly around the world and today elements of minimalism can be found in everything from car design to websites, architecture, and more. The actual definition of minimalism is “design stripped to its essential elements”.
So why is minimalistic design so powerful? It focuses a viewer in the way nothing else can, and drawing in a customer’s attention is one of the most effective uses of web design. Marketers who are looking for a simple way to cut through the clutter online, can use minimalistic web design to create a peaceful and effective website. Here are some tips for incorporating minimalistic elements into web design:
- • Remove anything that you don’t need: This is the hallmark of minimalism. Looking at something as simple as a logo, a designer driven by minimalism must assess whether or not every color, curve, and angle is actually necessary. While it is overwhelming for a designer to remove every bit of excess from their web design, paring down areas of a website which are a crowded or busy is the perfect first step to minimalistic bliss.
- • Limit use of color: Anyone who has used Photoshop, or opened a box of crayons, knows there are thousands of colors available for them to use, but minimalism calls for limited use of color. While it may feel like regulating color use limits creativity, it actually will make a designer search for the most perfect color, rather than just settling for a mish-mash of subpar hues.
- • Find the white space: White space is touted as a principle in every design style, not just minimalism. Novice designers will fill every part of their web design, thinking white space is just an opportunity to add another image, color, or web copy. White space should instead be used to focus a viewer’s attention on the few most important aspects of the overall web design. By including white space in design, people will also be less likely to feel overwhelmed, which makes them more open to learning about a company’s products and services.
- • Take away until only the best remains: One of the easiest ways to edit a web design project, such as a landing page, is by removing things from the page until it no longer makes sense. Then the designer can put back in the last element he removed and the project will make perfect sense – in its most minimalistic state. Removing the excess and focusing on the most important details will help a company stay true to its brand, mission, and image.