Minimalism has recently become one of the top trending things in web design at the moment. It is incredibly popular at the moment in part owing to how it complements the other web design trends including large imagery, block colouring and innovative navigation.

While all these aspects may complement each other really well, there nothing simple about designing a minimalist website. It can be just as complex to create a minimalistic design as any other.

One of the more common approaches to minimalist design is to create a fairly standard website then strip it down to the bare minimum elements:

Concept

It is not a good choice to decide that your current web design project should be minimalist simply because it’s currently popular, or you think that it will be quick and easy. It is a style choice, of which there are many, and will not be appropriate with all types of websites.

Minimalist web design needs to be coupled with sparse content and very modern visuals. It will not work well when there is a need to display a lot of content or if there is a more traditional aesthetic style.

Execution

Keeping design elements to an absolute minimum is an important part of minimalist design, but it is possible to take things too far and be left with a website that is too hard to use or too bland and boring.

A minimalist design should generally feature an interesting colour contrast and balance, or a choice of fonts or powerful images to stand out. Minimalist design should make the website simple and easy to use because there is no complex content; removing too much will make the website not instantly clear what’s going on and thus hard to navigate as a result.

Design Elements

There are a lot of design elements to take into consideration when creating a good minimalist website. Just the right amount of different elements need to be included to make the site interesting and stand out, whilst still aiming for simplicity. For example:

• Using very large imagery combined with simple and basic navigation to let the image do the talking.
• Images can be combined with basic geometric shapes and colours to make a website stand out with colour contrast.
• What can make a good minimalist website into a great one is the amount of effort put into the small details. For example unique mouse over effects and other innovative touches, so long as they don’t interfere with website functionality, can make the website unique.
• Typography contrasting well with an image can make it feel a lot more alive and give a fantastic look to the design.
• One of the more important points about minimalism is simplicity and ease of use. Keeping design elements consistent throughout the website will make the user experience flow better.
• While all of these elements should be at least considered when designing for minimalism, it all comes down to one sentence: The purpose of minimalism is to enhance communication through simplification, providing an aesthetically pleasing streamlined experience.

If you are thinking about having a minimalist website, or for more information, do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of our Web Design Wigan team!

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Established in 2010, Nexus Websites are a creative digital agency based in Wigan working with clients all over the UK. With a vast range of experience and a proven track record we have everything you need to take your business to the next level.