Perhaps it’s my obsession with the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, Jonathan Ive. Or maybe the success of the Google search page. Or possibly my seething hatred for retina-burning animated banner adverts and MySpace profile pages. But I’m sure Web users, designers and developers alike have all agreed that less is certainly more. And so, Minimalism seems to be the new black (and white) in the Web design industry.

What is Minimalism? Minimalism descibes movements in various forms of art and design, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features, thus, improving usability dramatically. Content is easily scannable and navigation becomes an absolute pleasure. I found an excellent description below:

“Minimalism communicates the desire to simplify art just as the culture in which the art emerged wanted to find simplified truth and values. Minimalism helps us understand the rebellious atmosphere of its changing times.”

There are many that think Minimalism is a simple, almost elementary trend to follow and implement, but finding a balanced experience that’s both intuitive and exploratory to your audience is no easy task. White space, layout considerations and executions becomes critical to the end result and usabilty.

Some elements to consider:

Fonts – As you will see in some of the examples below, text can be used as a striking design element. Again, it’s easy to index, but importantly contributes to beautiful design while effectively imparting important information to your visitor.

Images – Using fewer images ensures that every image has a function on the page. It’s not there just for decoration but rather adds to the website navigation or conversion goals – streamlining user experience.

Colour – Ample use of white space and simple colours can make it easy to segment the page, highlight related functions or prioritise actions a user could take.

Coding – Minimalism should be carried through to the coding of the site as well – neat, essential code ensures faster loading times.

Consistency – Minimalist design should be carried throughout your website design to create consistency of navigation and experience.

You can see these ideas implemented in the sites below:

When you compare these to a site like the one below, you can clearly see that the visitors experience is quite different. A visitor doesn’t know where to start, must engage with the website for a longer period of time and can more easily be lost.
Not to mention it’s just not as visually pleasing.

Minimalism in Web Design, while borrowing loosely from the origins of the movement, is all about getting to the core of a websites function, and balancing that with aesthetic value. Knowing what is essential to a user’s experience will not only lead them towards your conversion goals, but will make the users experience more pleasant.

Also Check Out:

• Web Design Trends 2008
• Designing the eMarketing Textbook Cover