The Ultimate Guideline Towards Simplicity: a cleaner digital approach
It’s fascinating how minimalist design is flourishing. Because there are specific characteristics essential to the application of the issue based on the industry or area in which it occurs. Let’s explore how minimalism appears in various contexts.
In the realm of web design, minimalism is becoming more and more trendy. Bolder, more feature-rich designs may tempt designers, but research shows otherwise. In fact, according to the same study, a user’s perception of a website is influenced by visual complexity within 100 milliseconds of exposure. You can make the most of this time if you are aware of the importance of first impressions.
Sites with good design tend to draw users the most. Additionally, consumers are becoming more and more conscious of the usability of websites. Users of today tend to favor strategies that concentrate on the elements they require while avoiding bells and whistles. Although it might seem contradictory, minimalist design can boost usability, visual appeal, and user engagement.
How do we ensure that we’re designing simply?
We periodically evaluate our progress toward the exquisite simplicity we aim for by addressing three questions:
Did we comprehend the task?
Do we have the correct story to tell?
Do we have the appropriate point of view?
Storytelling
Even though it’s a bit of a buzzword in the field of product development, storytelling is still crucial to the design process. Why? Because customers see products as means to an end, we frequently need to give narratives to help them see the environment in which our solutions might be used to meet their requirements. The truth is that people don’t shop for things; rather, they look for answers, memorable moments, and emotional resonance that elevate their lives to an aspirational state.
Our ability to summon up clear, considerate, and imaginative tales of potential futures in which we’ve offered solutions to their genuine issues is one of our most potent ways of cultivating a sense of connection among our clients and the people who buy from them. Regardless of the size or scope of the project, we consistently go through our ideas to choose the most suitable ones by asking, “Are these solutions helping us convey the most straightforward version of the most impactful and relatable story we can?”
The only way, in our opinion, to write this narrative in an applicable way is, to begin with, design research and understand the consumer, acquiring insights about their values, needs, and behaviors to identify the stories that will connect with them viscerally and emotionally. We put a lot of effort into transforming the obtained data into insights, frameworks, and personas — aggregated fictitious characters based on study respondents — that give our clients a real-world understanding of their target audience.
Perspective
The perspective we pick at the project’s commencement is the second crucial element we take into consideration when aiming for simplicity in the design. We must first force ourselves to ask, Is there a better way to approach the issue ahead of us, or are we simply perceiving it through the prism of the past?
Existing paradigms, or widely held perceptions about how things are or ought to be, dominate the world in which we live. This is quite often “baggage” that can affect innovation and design; it results in burdening future-oriented ideas with complex alternative solutions that make them more palatable because we feel we must bow to historical expectations. These assumptions are based on the idea that things can’t just change (or a capitulation that it would be too difficult to alter them). We discover that projects without any reflection typically produce solutions that feel overwhelming, difficult, or intimidating, or even worse, bury transformational ideas beneath layers of chaos that only serve to maintain our society’s unwillingness to grow.
We think it’s crucial to approach every challenge objectively and objectively fresh. Whether you let historical patterns dictate the same convoluted paths as the “correct way” in product design, rather than testing these presumptions to determine if it’s just the way we’re used to, you can miss a unique, easier option. It resembles the cognitive bias referred to as functional fixedness, which is the propensity to exclusively perceive things in their conventional uses. This is shown by the well-known candle/box experiment by psychologist Karl Duncker.
To prevent the candle from dripping onto the table below, participants were given a candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches. Most people either attempted to use tacks to fasten the candle to the wall or to melt the candle and use it as an adhesive. Most participants were unable to view the tack box as anything other than a place to store tacks, even though using it as a candleholder and attaching it to the wall using tacks was the genuine solution.
A Quick Rundown of Minimalist Design:
Some web designers erroneously believe that minimalism is solely an aesthetic preference. They disregard the fact that usability and economy — the capacity to accomplish more with less — are the ultimate goals of minimalism. It’s critical to comprehend the origins of minimalist design to escape the trap of concentrating solely on aesthetics. The basic concepts have existed for much longer even though it is a more recent trend in web design.
As a natural extension of these ideas and in response to a rise in complexity in web design, minimalist web design emerged. The user experience was slowed down by unnecessary animations and Flash intros, so some web designers thought it was time to go back to the less-is-more approach.
Simplified Web Design
Early in the new millennium, minimalism was initially used in online design, although interest in it has recently risen. The success of websites like Squarespace and the demand for WordPress themes with a minimalistic aesthetic clearly indicate how popular these designs are.
Simplified Elements
The following significant uses of minimalist web design should be taken into consideration to maximize interface effectiveness.
Use of Negative Spaces: Negative is a positive in this situation. Simply put, negative space is the void between visible components. Emphasizing already-existing elements will result in additional vacant space. Negative space prevents consumers from becoming overloaded with information.
Contrast: Using a straightforward, high-contrast color scheme provides a website with a new, fresh appearance. The palette might be more effective when there are fewer visual elements on a page. High contrast can also help make a website easier to read and can point visitors to crucial information or prospective actions. High contrast is an excellent option for many websites because efficiency and usability are the main goals of minimalist design.
Dramatic Typography: Typography is essential to effective online design, whether or not minimalist principles are used. However because there are fewer elements on a page in minimalist design, dramatic typographic use has an even greater impact. This emphasizes the importance of typographical choices and can be used quite effectively.
However, designers should exercise caution when using striking typography. Use elaborate fonts sparingly and as key elements of your designs. To ensure that the emphasized message or action is the correct one, meticulously select the text.
Ironically, it can be a little harder to characterize simplicity in the context of online design. It’s not only about how a website looks; it’s also about how the user interacts with the website as a whole.
A user’s experience can be made simpler by their ability to complete activities quickly and without being distracted. Intuitive page navigation is the major cause of this kind of minimalism. “Simple” designs don’t baffle or keep users from achieving their objectives. Alternatively, they become part of the user’s environment, allowing the user to concentrate.
Be Simple But Clear
Designers should use caution when endeavoring to simplify a site so as not to remove essential features, just as with good use of negative space. The well-known hamburger menu, which collapses the primary navigation under a single menu symbol, is an illustration of this issue.
There are circumstances in which a hamburger menu is a suitable option, but for many websites, a central menu that is visible would better engage users. The removal of the menu feature in the name of simplicity works against the minimalist ideals of a site whose purpose is to introduce people to new information or products.
Conclusion
Simplicity has a purpose in UX design to create products that are as simple and painless to use as feasible. But as UX designers, we must be sure that simplicity never results in products being watered down, that we always include important functionality, and that we keep innovating.
If you can somehow simply retain three things…
1. Know your context — This is UX rule 101, but just to recap, understand who your users are, how they will use the product, and what they are attempting to accomplish so you can determine how to simplify the product to meet their needs.
2. Remember that not everything needs to be overly simple — Some products can be sophisticated. Instead, concentrate on making them as entertaining as possible for the user.
3. Prepare yourself to iterate — To get the simple right, one must undergo numerous iterations and invest a significant amount of time. To ensure you haven’t strayed off track, keep going back to your initial research. You may also employ user research to make sure the original idea hasn’t been lost.
