There are over a billion websites in the world, and most of them are probably designed with the same care and attention as a toddler drawing on the walls with crayon. If you’ve spent a lot of time on the internet, then you’re probably no stranger to pop-ups, autoplaying videos, intrusive cookie banners, and walls of tiny, illegible text.
If you’re designing your own website, don’t fall into the trap of feeling the need to cram your website full of useless features that actually get in the way of the user experience. You probably don’t need an AI chatbot, tons of flashy animations, and background music. In fact, I think it’s more important than ever to embrace minimalist web design principles that have stood the test of time for almost 30 years.
Also read: Beginner’s Guide to Developing a Stylishly Minimalistic WordPress Site
Understanding Minimalism
Minimalism is a philosophy that can be applied to all sorts of things: life, fashion and design. Minimalist design focuses on removing the unnecessary elements until only the essential ones remain. When we apply this to web design, we want to focus on simplicity and usability.
A minimalist web page doesn’t include any of the aforementioned bells and whistles that cover too many sites nowadays. No superfluous sound effects or autoplaying videos; just the bare necessities and a clear, efficient use of the space available. This approach often enables a smooth, frictionless user experience, supported by faster load times.
Also read: Best Minimalist Website Design Principles
Key Elements of Minimalist Web Design
Purpose-driven Design
Everything on the page must serve a clear function that contributes to the site’s purpose and the user’s goals. If you’re an online retail store, selling clothes, then make it easy to buy. If you’re helping to solve a problem, describe the solution clearly.
White Space
Correctly use the space on the page. Also known as negative space, ample space on your page will give it more breathing room and attract users’ eyes to the most important content. For example, a title in the centre of the page, surrounded by white space, emphasises importance.
Pick Your Colours Carefully
Don’t flood your pages with too many contrasting colours. Remember, it’s supposed to be easy on the eyes, so try limiting yourself to just two or three complementary colours.
Speed
The more features you have packed into your website, the more work it needs to do under the hood. This can make websites load and run at a truly glacial rate. Minimalist sites don’t operate like this, though. Because there’s less clutter, there are fewer elements to load, so overall, the site should load and run faster.
Common Pitfalls
Don’t forget about mobile
These days, most users browse the internet on their phones, so you mustn’t forget to optimise your site for both desktop and mobile. You wouldn’t want a user’s first impression of your site to be a strangely proportioned site, full of buttons too tiny to tap with a finger or thumb. That’s one reason not to neglect mobile; another would be that it’s better for SEO (search engine optimisation), as Google’s rankings prioritise the mobile experience.
Don’t Make It Too Simple
There’s a difference between removing all of your site’s unnecessary elements and removing almost everything altogether. It can be a tough balance to get right, but it should be guided by the ideal user experience. Just think: what do users want? And how can you clearly give it to them? If you strip things back too much, then you can leave yourself with a site that lacks any semblance of identity, and more accurately resembles a clear piece of paper.
Minimalist Web Design in Action
- Google: Iconic, timeless, and as simple as they come. Google’s homepage knows you’re only there to do one thing: search. There’s a reason it looks almost identical to its original iteration, almost 30 years ago.
- Bond Turner: Service-based businesses often have overstuffed websites, packed with pages that are full of unforgiving walls of text. But this one is different; they use white space so users don’t become overwhelmed
- Barkas: An independent creative agency that puts their work front-and-centre, with hardly any words to speak of. Even the cookie banner is hardly noticeable.
Minimalist UX
Minimalist web design isn’t just about looking good; it’s about making a site that’s as easy to use as possible. Users are more likely to interact positively with your site if it’s presented to them clearly, with a UI and navigation system that they can use effortlessly.
Your job is to ensure that their journey is as smooth as possible, reassure them that they’re in the right place, and make a site that doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to structure and navigation.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re unhappy with your website, it could be time to go for a minimal approach instead. Adopting our methods can see you improve user experience, speed up performance and increase conversions with some simple strategies that are proven to work. Get rid of all the visual noise and clutter, as you craft a website that is clean and deliberate.
