Several reasons why the popularity of minimalism is constantly growing (translation)

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Good day to all. As part of my work, I often have to read foreign periodicals for designers and, of course, often translate it. I have accumulated several already prepared translations, with one of them I decided to share with you. If anyone is interested, I will continue.
PS Some translations are published in my blog, so if the reader is interested in Habr, I’ll leave an exclusive for Habr.

Why is the popularity of minimalism constantly growing?

The popularity of minimalism has been growing steadily in recent years. Long before the advent of flat design (flat design, flat design), minimalism had a great influence on artists, sculptors, directors, interior designers, designers and, of course, web designers.

In minimalism, the design consists of parts and is crushed. Although hard to master, the basics of minimalism are easy to learn. If you want to try minimalism in any artistic activity, you must clean the work of everything that is possible, leaving the most necessary elements.

When properly applied, minimalistic design can be the most effective and simple approach to website design. Minimalism will lead to a less messy and noisy design.
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For these purposes, designers are focusing on the subtraction of unnecessary elements, and recently more and more designers are following this concept.

Its popularity quickly grew with the spread of the trend of flat design. More and more websites have been adapted with a flat design that applies the concept of minimalism, thinking that less is really more.

But why is minimalism so popular? What lies behind the popularity of this design concept? And how can you use this popularity to make the design more efficient and beautiful?

Less is more

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe might never have guessed what effect the phrase “less means more” he said will have on the brilliant minds who lived after him. These three words summarize everything that minimalism is - concisely and straight to the point.

When developing a site, you should always ask yourself the question: “What do I mean?”. Thus, you will understand where to lead the audience.

A cluttered design will only block this point. Unnecessary elements, as a rule, become an obstacle, rather than a bridge for the transfer of your goal to the viewer.

Why is that bad?

• The jumble of elements only distracts the user to other things, rather than responding to your call to action.
• It makes information more difficult to understand.

The designer must cut his content, cut out unnecessary, less useful and irrelevant elements.

How to achieve more of the smaller?

• Plan your website more carefully. This will prevent the addition of unnecessary elements before you even touch the design.
• Determine your goal. If one of the design elements does not serve this purpose, delete it.
• Spend time asking yourself: “Do I really need it?”.
• Try using some programs to track clicks on your website to identify elements that are never used by viewers. After that, evaluate whether it is worth changing the place for these elements or deleting them.

Responsive design

With the daily increasing number of smartphone users, websites must be responsive (Responsive). As soon as your site becomes viewable and beautiful on any kind of devices, the chances of reaching the goal will be increased.

Why was design responsiveness mentioned here? What role does she play in the popularity of minimalism?

Important role

Responsive sites using a single prototype and grid systems can easily move from a desktop screen to mobile versions. With less content, fewer blocks and design elements (which adhere to the minimalist style), with the addition of empty space, minimalistic websites are more likely to be translated into beautiful mobile versions.

Another thing about responsiveness and its relationship with minimalism is users. Mobile users are less patient, always busy and always on the go. Providing information to the regular user of mobile devices can be very useful. Remember, if the user wants it, give it to him as soon as possible.

Here are a few things you should remember about responsive design:

• Think responsive. There are ideal schemes for responsive design and there are others that are not perfect. Understanding this will help you create a site design for any device.
• Pay attention to control points. Screen resolutions have a set of different control points. These points should be leading to create designs for different screens.
• Drawings must be flexible. When you change the width, make your pictures as responsive as possible. Here is a tool that can help you: Adaptive Images .

Lighter websites

Imagine yourself in a balloon. You turn on the burner and the balloon inflates. But you can't fly because heavy sandbags pull your ball to the ground. What are you going to do?

The answer is obvious. Lighter sites have become one of the main reasons for the popularity of minimalism. Having only a few elements in the design will mean a lighter website.

• Fewer content, widgets, design elements means that less data needs to be downloaded to your browser, giving you a faster, easier, more efficient and productive user interface.
• You immediately build a more responsive design, thinking about how quickly your website will load on mobile devices.
• Having a lighter site means easier updating, maintenance and troubleshooting.
• Remove unused plugins.
• If something does not work effectively, throw it away.
• If you can create design elements with code, do it.
• Consider when it is better to use PNG, GIF or JPG files.

Here are some tips:

• Remove unused plugins.
• If something does not work effectively, throw it away.
• If you can create design elements with code, do it.
• Consider when it is better to use PNG, GIF or JPG files.

Focus on content

Content is main. It is clear that everyone knows it. What drives people when choosing minimalism is also its focus on content. Since minimalist websites seek to discard unnecessary elements and expose the design as soon as possible, the user focuses on the main thing - on the content.

Without any confusion, users can easily find what they need to quickly respond to the call to action. The efficiency of sites increases, because it leads to an increase in conversion with minimal effort in the field of design and maintenance.

How to create a design for content?

• Use suitable alignment.
• Use empty space.
• Use suitable fonts.
• Remember that size matters.

Conclusion

How much is minimalism so popular? It reflects a lifestyle that stimulates self-analysis. What things I do not need? What things do I need? The answer to these questions will lead you to realize what is really necessary and what you must keep and keep.

Source: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/