Minimalist Web Design: When Less is More

Minimalist Showcase

Below is a brief showcase of minimalist designs. See how each of these implements the principles we have discussed. Also see which ones break our guidelines, and think of why they still work.

1. James Day Photo

2. Killswitch Collective

3. Lonely

4. DBushell

5. XPD.no

6. Toy NY

7. Joshua Serbus

8. Ah-Studio

9. Symour Powell

10. Icon Werk

11. Neil Wilson Architects

12. Non-Format

13. Zaum

14. Checkland Kindlysides

15. Blumenthal

16. Tink London

17. Proud Creative

18. Kimag

19. Bernat Fortet

20. All Day

Some Trends

As you can see, minimalist web design has some clear trends. Being aware of these trends helps us improve our designs in a number of ways.

Not only are we able to take inspiration from the layouts that other designers have worked so hard on, but we can consciously break from these trends to forge our own innovative path.

Let’s discuss a few of these trends in further detail.

Black and White

One of the most noticeable trends is extensive use of black and white. This is obvious enough: color should be simplified along with texture, shape and content. But it can be overdone these days and look a little boring.

Look at a few websites that have defined colors in the showcase above, and see how they stand out from other minimalist designs. Also, think of how they manage to stay minimalist even with such strong use of color. Here’s one example:

Interesting Typography

Typography-based Web design is closely tied to minimalism.

When designers have very little else to excite the user, they often seize on interesting typography. You could even go so far as to use typography as the sole visual element.

This is a daring technique but still a trend in itself. Look for ways to make typography enhance the design while remaining unique.

Flash

A surprising number of minimalist web designs are Flash-based. With so little else for visual stimulation, a design could benefit from subtle animation (such as text fading in and out) without being overpowering.

Also, Flash removes certain limitations in the design process. Unconventional wireframes, typography and other elements can be easier to achieve with Flash than by traditional methods.