
A guide to Minimalist Web Design - smail
https://medium.com/picsrush/a-guide-to-minimalist-web-design-9c14503eeec4
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ThomPete
I normally don't comment on "guides/how" design posts as I know there are a
lot of caveats and personal opinions involved (not the least my own).

However I don't think this post is about minimalist web-design as such. I say
so because if you want to learn to do minimalist web design this isn't a
useful guide (I am aware it's not mean to be a tutorial but it does offer some
observations that can lead you the wrong way)

The number one thing you need to understand as a designer if you want to do
minimalist design is typography and to do so properly takes years. It's a very
refined art to do well and most people get it wrong when they try.

Putting few things on a screen is not minimalism and the Google screen is in
itself not an example of minimalism. It was never really a conscious effort
but rather a "lets remove everything and just add the search bar and a logo".

What google screen however is a good example of is first principles. I.e.
going from the categories based search engines of it's time to a purely search
focused approach and using pageranking rather than humans to determine
results.

If you want to understand and do minimalist design learn typography first.
Besides practicing a lot, a great book to do so with(a classic) is "Elements
of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst. It wont teach you typography on
the web but it will teach you about typography which is one of the keys to
understanding minimalism on the web. Would also recommend Grid Systems by
Josef Muller Brockman which also provide a good foundation for understanding
typography.

What google screen however is a good example of is first principles. I.e.
going from the categories based search engines of it's time to a purely search
focused approach and using pageranking rather than humans to determine
results.

Just my five cents.

~~~
smail
thanks for that helpful comment, I was excited to read it. It is different
from I think, sure I respect it.

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1_2__4
How about a guide to non-minimalist web design? Can we please please please
have a discussion about how to build interfaces that aren't oceans of white
space, relentless reduction of "click targets", and an overriding emphasis on
showing the user the absolute least amount of information possible lest we
frighten or confuse them?

I'm so sick of consumer-focused web design infecting all corners of web
design, including and especially professional/industry design where more
information may sometimes be better than less. It's like UI designers'
collective takeaway from Tufte et al. is "wow showing lots of information
effectively in limited space is tough, let's just not do that."

~~~
keithpeter
I'm glad you said that.

I've gone back to making a _home page_ (remember those?) for my Maths teaching
next year. I'm trying to pack as much as I can into one page that students can
just access without passwords and which will work ok on a variety of
platforms.

[http://www.maths91.uk/](http://www.maths91.uk/)

I suppose this is 'maximalist'. Still no javascript. The style sheet is
copypasta from various sources I'm afraid.

~~~
noir_lord
I love that page, information dense but with a clear hierarchy and
progression.

~~~
keithpeter
The page is a rendition of an administrative document (the 'scheme of work'
for the Maths course) into language appropriate to students. The idea is they
can't lose it if it is at a handy location on the web. We'll see.

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overcast
What always is missing from these Minimalist Design articles, are examples of
heavily trafficked social sites. Tons of content, presented in a clean way. HN
is a good example I think. Showing off sites that are nothing but basically a
white page, with a single professional product image in the center, isn't
really moving things forward. Yes it's minimal, but it's easy, and basic.

~~~
smail
thank you for the comment, it is a good remarque.

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pavlov
Ironically, the article has a picture that reads in giant letters: "Does this
thing adds value to my Design"? -- and there's a superfluous yellow circle
behind the text, just for decoration.

If the author feels that image adds value to the blog post, I'm not sure I
want his advice on minimalism.

~~~
smail
i appreciate that, I admit that I had the same thought before about if the
image adds value to the blog post, and I keep it because I think the yellow
circle represent the heaviness of that question and adds more focus. thank you

~~~
pavlov
Thanks for taking the criticism seriously.

You know, my comment was too harshly worded. It had a mean tone that was not
my intention. I hate it when people give snarky criticism online, and then I
go and do it myself... Sorry about that.

~~~
smail
please don't say that because I accept it. It is my first publication, I want
to learn more from that comment. thanks

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rcjones
I like to treat design like writing. Pour all thoughts onto a page > organize
thoughts > write the piece > edit > edit > edit. Every edit phase usually
centers on condensing and removing fluff. In my experience, it's the same with
design... likely because I'm an amateur. I have to overdesign something before
I can start stripping away the unnecessary stuff. If I try to design something
'minimalist' from the start, I'm stifled.

To paraphrase the author, you don't add white space as much as you throw stuff
out.

Aside: If I experienced any of the last five branding examples in the wild, I
doubt I'd remember them. In these cases, minimalism = milquetoast design.

~~~
smail
thank you for the comment, I think I share with you the same feeling about "If
I try to design something 'minimalist' from the start, I'm stifled.". -About
the Aside, I think they just don't offer a big service that you can meet
everyday, like google or apple, but they are good exemple of "doing"
minimalism.

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tedunangst
> In web design it is quite the same, it is about keeping only the most
> essential elements that let users quickly and easily solve their problems.

Is the dickbar really essential to solving my problems? Maybe think about
removing it?

~~~
smail
of course.

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balladeer
There’s minimalist web design and then there’s pretentious and _gaudy by
nature_ websites filled with glossy pictures stacked in nice and shiny grids
in the name of minimalism. I often see the latter being peddled around as
minimalism including some examples in the linked post.

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anentropic
for the OP, since it looks like you're also the author:

there's a typo/grammar mistake in the image "Does this thing adds value to my
Design?"

'add' not 'adds' and in English we wouldn't normally capitalise the d in
design in this sentence

(intended as helpful tip, not criticism!)

~~~
Mz
There are enough typos and Engrish construction that it really should be run
through something like Paperrater.com. Not that such services will catch
everything or have all the correct answers, but if your writing is bad enough,
making changes until they stop finding errors is a good practice

