Can someone explain how minimalist ≠ ugly?
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This site displayed in a minimalist theme - very different from my last theme - and probably from my next theme. Click to view larger.[/caption] I’ve been trying out a bunch of new themes and frameworks lately, in an effort to determine what would be easiest for both me and my clients to use. In fact, this site is demonstrating that right now. Although I suspect as soon as I get some free time, I’m going to be changing it, probably drastically. Which is why I included the screen shot.
What is Minimalist Design?
There isn’t a hard and fast set of rules for what makes a design minimalist, but there are a few common denominators.
- Most minimalist designs use a white or just slightly off-white background color with black or nearly black text
- They have very few other colors beyond gray
- The exception is the links which are usually red or blue
- Images are photographs, usually big, and without any adornments
- Typography is strongly focused, but often only standard fonts are used
Of course, the focus on a minimalist design is that it’s just that—minimalistic. You do the least amount of design required to get the point across. And, as a general rule, I like that idea. But, holy moley, what’s up with stark black on white?
White = Minimalist
Apparently, in a design memo I missed, white became synonymous with minimalist. Thus, color was, by definition, not minimalist. But I like color. I love dark greens, and purples, and firey reds and oranges. I love the colors of a sunset and the colors of the forest. I love the blues and greens of Hawaiian oceans. I once dreamed that I redesigned my site in shades of chocolate. I guess that makes me not a minimalist. And I don’t really care.
But Decorations Have Their Place Too
One of the things that minimalist designers leave out are all the decorations—icons, buttons, lines, swirls, and so on. You might see a pin-stripe to delineate a column, but there would need to be a lot of white space around it, so that it didn’t mar the clean lines of the content or photos. But I think that these decorations often serve a purpose (beyond cluttering up their boring, white design) that minimalist designers forget, especially icons and buttons. Icons make text blocks easier to process quickly. For example, if I tell you you can find me on Facebook, if you’re reading the text, you’ll be able to tell what that means, but if I add an icon like this 
you know immediately that that is a Facebook link. Virtually no reading required, even a two-year-old can be quickly taught to recognize that logo. Buttons as well serve a similar purpose. People who might not click a text link to download a free PDF might realize that there’s a free PDF available because of the button. The imagery might be non-minimal, but it stands out and draws the eye.
I Won’t Be Staying with a Minimalist Theme for Long
As you probably gathered from the headline, I think they are ugly. While I intellectually like the way this site looks now, I prefer something closer to the way it was before: [caption id=“attachment_773” align=“aligncenter” width=“245”]
My watercolor theme[/caption] So, if I ever get the time, I’ll be creating something more cluttered and messy than the current theme. It’ll have color, and images, and funky fonts and more. I haven’t even started on the design and I’m excited. And if this post is still in the same theme a year from now I’ll give the first person to notice a cookie. Facebook icon provided by YooThemes free for commercial use.