Minimalism as an art movement rose as an opponent of anything dramatic. Most of the time, words like “simplicity,” “clarity,” and “essential” are associated with the term minimalism. It has taken the world of design by storm. Everything by social default has become minimalist now, starting from the logos of big companies to the most common infrastructural commodity. But what exactly is the key feature of minimalist design? Or, to put it in other words, how do you identify a design as a minimalist design?
If I put it in simple words, minimalism means the bare minimum. Everything has a purpose. It is also true for our daily objects. For instance, a spoon is used for feeding, and a mug’s purpose is to hold anything liquid. Now, a minimalist design would focus on the purpose of the object and remove anything else that may distract you from that purpose. It can be a loud colour, intricate design, or various prints, anything that may not be necessary to fulfil the purpose of the object. The minimalistic design will not put any effort into that.
Therefore, the colour used in the minimalist design is monochromatic. Nothing dramatic that will deviate from the purpose of the object. You will not see a mixture of many colours or gradients in minimalistic logos. There will be one or two solid colours, and that’s it. The reason to do so is to represent the logo or the design as neutral as possible.
Moreover, fixating on the essential may pose some problems. One such problem is the lack of details. Before explaining this further, I would like to say this issue may not be a problem for everyone because the thing with details is that people have different tastes. So, some may find the absence of details a good thing. But irrespective of your preference, minimalism does create a lack of details. And by erasing details, what it also eliminates is individualism.
Minimalism erases the individual stories or personalities behind each object. It creates a series of similar-looking objects with a monochromatic colour tone with a single purpose in focus. This obliterates the cultural touch or history you would have gotten from a gothic or Victorian design. One look at a gothic cathedral, and you can assume its history or the culture it belongs to. However, you cannot separate the cultural or historical context behind a minimalist skyscraper.
Therefore, the sudden rise of minimalist design poses the threat of no details, no identity, and absolute neutrality. Minimalist designs are beautiful as long as there are loud designs to compare with them.
Written by Nayeema Nusrat Arora
