Minimalism in web design

Because of its timeless elegance and clear presentation of content, minimalism has long been viewed as one of the most enduring visual frameworks in Web design. Although the design trend of thought come and go, but minimalist design has become increasingly classic, its vision and design concepts are in different professional and industry designers to accept.

As an artistic style, minimalism is not unique to web design, and the roots of the minimalist design movement can be traced back to the early 20th century. Since then, the minimalist design concept has been enduring, as if it were a timeless model that could experience the test of time.

Designers of every age will find themselves somewhat connected to the principles of minimalist design, not to mention the era of minimalist explosions. In this article, we will explore the principles of minimalist design and explain how minimalist technology will become more mature in the future.

Less is more: a brief history of minimalism and deconstruction

The three small words "less is much more (less)" is the simplest definition of minimalism. Minimalist web design is the essence of creating an impressive visual site, while not a lot of fancy.

In essence, minimalist design should be neither too clear-cut nor too low-key.

Although the concept of minimalist design originated at the turn of the century from 19 to 20, it really formed a trend in the Swiss design world in the the 1940s. As you can see below, this style is expressed by bold colors, clear sans serif fonts, and vivid photos. If you do further deconstruction, you will notice that the layout and alignment are mainly dependent on the grid form (which is also the basis for minimalist web design).

Minimalist web design is the purest form of subtraction art-it's not about "no more supplements", but "nothing extra to take away". Although the core technology of minimalism at present is negative space and black font, there are many ways to implement minimalism in addition.

For example:

Negative space----that is commonly called "white space", in short, negative space is in the design of unused space. In many cases, you'll see that the space is full of bright colors (or maybe just white/gray/black).

High-definition photos----due to the lesser décor, users can better appreciate the amazing details of high-definition photography. You will usually see these photos using the Phantom button (a light or white outline button) and bold typography.

Dramatic typography----in both the headline and the text, fonts are one of the few that allows for visual exaggeration in minimalist design.

Contrast----Contrast is achieved through the combination of different design elements. For example, a black background image vs an exaggerated white 72 point font. Or, light green monochrome background vs white script font.

Simple navigation----According to minimalist design, even in the most complex navigation, users see only a drop-down menu (even so, you will not see the submenu pop-up). More common is a top level navigation, even just a hamburger-style menu.

Visual balance----visual balance is achieved through a clear visual hierarchy, consistent alignment and positioning, and intelligent use of symmetry and asymmetry.

With so much to say, you may mistakenly think it is very easy to implement minimalism, after all, fewer elements mean less work. In fact, just the opposite: because you can use only a few elements, these elements must take more effort to achieve good results, it may be easy to use minimalism, but it is not easy to implement it.

The charm of minimalism

Minimalism can flourish because it is an effective, dynamic, and visually stunning option for designers. Like all enduring design concepts, it has undergone multiple evolutions and various technical expressions and creative changes over time.

Minimalism achieves design goals that many of the more complex design styles cannot achieve. The advantages of minimalist website design include:

1, it and responsive design framework has a natural tacit understanding.

2, it reduces the browser needs to load the information, provides a faster site load time and better performance of the site.

3, this design concept is "content driven" (Content-driven), and content-oriented design trend of thought highly consistent.

4, it applies to different disciplines, such as architecture, interior design and art, and not just web design.

In minimalist web design, a common approach is to progressively subtract design elements until the site is on the verge of "unusable." Then test 5 Web site users at least, and rearrange design elements and interface objects as needed. Repeat this process at least once, and you will be able to achieve a balance between ease of use and elegance.

The future of minimalist design

Even if minimalism is currently on the rise in the design trend, do not confuse this classic design concept with the sheer trend. As with any popular design tactic, it may subside after the boom period, when some almost antagonistic technology prevails.

In any case, minimalism will continue to be a popular choice, but it is likely to evolve into a style that is less clear-cut. As with other technologies we have seen, the minimalist design will be richer (and more usable), such as the graphic design that has evolved into "flat design", mainly in the texture, color and effect of the UI design and the asymmetrical pattern.

Let's explore the following changing elements.

1. Minimalist material

The designer will extend the distinctive background style to other materials that have not been noticed before, but the expansion is still dominated by minimalist design aesthetics. This trend away from pure minimalist design is just beginning, but more possibilities are already available.

2, the opposite color

The white background used to be the main feature of minimalist design, the future of minimalist design will continue to use more colors, backgrounds, black and light-colored text to break through the monochrome color scheme to achieve richer results.

3. More Interactive effects

One of the traditional definitions of minimalism is "do not use special effects." Now, simple animations are making the minimalist style more popular, as more designers realise that minimalism is not the same as being static.

4, Break the symmetry

At present minimalism still tends to be symmetrical, but this is not an ironclad rule. Balance is important, but symmetry is not. In fact, more websites will use asymmetrical ideas. As symmetrical design works become more saturated, web designers can boldly use asymmetric UI patterns to create a familiar and refreshing pattern.

5, better ease of use

Since the content of the site is clearer and there is no distraction, minimalist sites should be more useful (theoretically). This is often not the case, as Delwin Campbell described in an article, the use of pure icon navigation system may confuse the user if your visual metaphor is not easy to understand. Or, if a web designer can only allow users to explore ways to limit the user's freedom of choice in a linear fashion, it can also make users unhappy.

Conclusion:

Minimalism is not just a lot of negative space and as few elements as possible. The core of minimalist philosophy is to emphasize content so that users can focus on the most important things. Don't misunderstand the purpose of minimalism itself, or you may delete important functional elements. It is not to achieve minimalism by subtraction------but to subtract itself.