The minimalist style originated in painting and sculpture in the 50s and has translated into web design in a great way. You can spot a minimalist website very easily by the fact that it is not crammed with bright colours, images and other design elements. The style uses only a few elements and gives each one space to breathe. This is particularly suitable for sites that want to highlight the content and ensure it attracts the visitor’s attention rather than other elements that could be distracting.
A minimalist design will not work for every type of website. When considering what style to go with it is important to keep users in mind and ensure you cater for their needs. If they will be looking for a wide variety of features you’re better off choosing a different style that will facilitate this. Minimalism works surprisingly well for content heavy sites because it allows each piece to speak for itself and does away with secondary features that are not required.
If advertising is essential to your website, minimalism may not be a feasible option. With a minimalist design you could find that the ads distract visitors and take attention away from the content. In some cases the adverts may even interfere with the functionality and prevent visitors from accessing or viewing content effectively. This will harm their experience.
E-commerce sites can be designed according to minimalist principles, but it can be a challenge to create a website that is wholly minimal because of the multitude of information they need to present. What they can do is ensure the content is well presented and not cluttered with unnecessary elements. Again, you need to keep the needs of users in mind to ensure the design you choose will suit them.
The key thing to remember with minimalism is that it is focused on content. When starting out, the first step should be to devise sample content that will work as the foundation for your design. You can then refine both together and ensure they blend together beautifully.
If you are considering a minimalist design you need to remember that having fewer features and elements doesn’t mean it will be easier to create a site; in fact it may make it a little trickier, but the final result can be incredible. Our team of North East web designers can create a minimal website that will complement and enhance your business, giving users a great experience while also providing fantastic aesthetic appeal.