What Is Minimalist Web Design in Simple Words

Many trends in web design in 2022 are directly related to minimalism – a style that implies the use of simple images, the absence of unnecessary elements on the layout. This article will talk about this style’s basic principles, give real examples, and talk about its features.

Often, designers perceive minimalism as just a set of essential elements on a website without adding unnecessary details. However, the style is not limited to this. The main idea of ​​minimalism in design emphasizes the site’s content, not its design.

Minimalism is used on those resources to present a product (the so-called promotional sites). The absence of unnecessary elements allows designers to highlight the product or service in the foreground; users are not distracted by design and more easily perceive the content. For example, Google uses the principles of minimalism on its home page:

The user is not distracted by anything from the search bar; a minimum of buttons and other elements are used. Anything that is distracting or does not directly affect the decision-making is removed.

Let’s figure out what features can define a style and the concept of “minimalism” in web design.

Simplicity

One of the main features of minimalism is simplicity in everything. The designer can “control” the user’s gaze by removing unnecessary details and drawing attention to the necessary elements. When creating a layout, developers often get carried away and add extreme decorative elements that interfere with the perception of information, transferring attention to themselves. As a result, the gaze moves from one object to another and is not directed to calls for targeted actions or products. Minimalism, on the other hand, solves this problem, and the user quickly finds the information he needs and easily composes an idea of ​​the product.

This is a good minimalism web design example. It’s a product catalog design. There are no unnecessary details. As a result, the user can quickly select the desired product and easily navigate the catalog. With minimalism, clients focus on the essentials and focus on accent elements. Thus, you can increase the conversion rate on the site without using unnecessary elements.

Learn more How to Incorporate a Сonversion-Centered Design Principles And Skyrocket Sales

Pure colors

Color plays a significant role in this style. Therefore, Minimalism web design welcomes a limited color palette, often monochrome (when only one color is used).

Some designers try not to use bright colors. For example, the primary color palette in minimalism is black and white. However, some designers use bright colors for website design:

An essential feature in such a color palette is the “purity” of the color. Minimalism does not use gradients, volumetric textures, and other effects. This technique helps to highlight the object in the background and draw attention to the content, not the site’s design. An essential condition: the color must provide good contrast between the images and the background.

Minimalism is also often used with bright accents on significant elements:

With the help of color in minimalism, you can create visual interest in the user and evoke emotions without resorting to decorative elements. As a rule, clients prefer a clean design, as it does not distract from the main target actions and looks stylish. In addition, minimalism is the best suited for product presentations – the design is simple to understand and navigate the site. As a result, the user can easily navigate the resource and perform targeted actions without much stress.

Read about How to Choose the Correct UI Design Colors for Your Product to Reinforce Your Business in one of our blog articles.

Images without background

Images are the most striking and frequently used elements in minimalism. With its help, designers create a unique atmosphere and emotional contact with the client. However, there are some requirements for images in minimalism:

• Images should not “pollute” the layout. The photo should be as simple as possible, without unnecessary small details and distracting elements.
• The color gamut of the image doesn’t matter. The main thing is that the photo contrasts with the background.
• Images must be of the same style.
• Images without a background are often used, making it easier to attract attention and create a single composition. In addition, these images show the product more vividly.

A minimalist web design example of an image without background:

The example shows that designers focus on products – they use images without distracting elements, a discreet color scheme.

Flat elements are also often used. The main distinguishing feature of such elements is the absence of apparent effects, for example, shadows, gradients, lighting effects, and more. In addition, icons, buttons, web forms, and other elements can be flat.

Space

Also, minimalist web design is distinguished by the use of space. We wrote more about this technique here. Such space appears because the designer removes unnecessary elements and leaves only the main thing. The correct distribution of intervals allows you to draw the user’s attention to the desired images and shapes. This is because the element appears to be positioned aside from the rest of the content.

When applying white space, the designer needs to consider the following points:

1. What content will be at the top of the layout? Most users make their first impression on the first screen, so it is crucial which elements the customer sees first.
2. How adding spacing will affect composition and layout length. Even though space makes the design more accessible, few people like to scroll the page too long. So it’s essential to maintain balance and not stretch the layout too much.
3. You need to think about responsiveness design. For example, how will space affect smaller layouts?

The use of space makes the design stylish, facilitates the perception of information, and draws the user’s attention to the necessary elements. Despite this, you need to monitor the spacing carefully and create a coherent picture without damaging the page hierarchy. Otherwise, scattered aspects in different parts of the site will only get in the client’s way and make sense of clutter.

Composition

Considering the peculiarities of the style, the composition on the site is also concise and straightforward. Images without background, pure colors, space create their unique atmosphere on the site. The arrangement of the elements also maintains a sense of lightness and simplicity:

Composition in minimalism web design can be different. For example, a modular grid is often used, and all elements are aligned along with it. As a result, the layout is simple, easy for content perception and navigation. However, with the help of composition, some designers want to give the site originality and use non-standard methods – randomly arrange blocks, “push” images of the screen, place images on blocks, etc.

Typography: simple and complex

Minimalism is a style that brings content to the fore. Therefore, in this web design direction, textual content and its design are essential.

Typically minimalist designs have sans-serif fonts. Such typography in web design looks as concise and straightforward as the style itself. Large inscriptions, decorated headings are welcome. However, text blocks usually contain only informative and helpful text, adhering to the “nothing more” rule.

Some designers want to add some flavor to the layout and use not simple typography but attractive creative solutions – handwritten fonts, lettering. You can find how to make typography for a website in our previous article.

The minimalistic design is still in trend because of its stylish and attractive appearance and high level of usability. Why is minimalism so attractive to users?

• There are no unnecessary details and distractions – it is easier to perceive the content, search for the necessary information, and focus on reading or choosing a product.
• Simple site navigation and ease of checkout. You don’t need to understand the interface for a long time and get used to it.
• High download speed. Since there are no “heavy” elements on the site, there are no problems loading content.

All the necessary elements are highlighted specially and attract attention. In addition, designers place accents so that the user does not have to look for the information he needs or perform the targeted action.

The site’s minimalistic design relieves users of the need to dive into the interface, understand navigation, and be distracted by decorative details. Thus, removing the unnecessary elements can increase the site’s conversion rate only due to laconic forms.

Even though minimalism is all about simplicity and unnecessary elements, designers can be creative and add originality to their work. Minimalism does not deny innovative solutions; on the contrary, the lack of unnecessary details only emphasizes the differences between the sites.

Gapsy design studio creates website designs in various styles. Minimalism, flat design, classic layouts, retro – we use all styles and follow trends in web design. The direction is chosen by the needs of the user, the characteristics of the product, and the wishes of the customers. We help entrepreneurs increase conversions through design and offer classic and creative solutions. You can see services we provide and examples of our work in our “Portfolio”.