There is a saying that goes something like, “the devil is in the details….” I never quite understood that phrase to be true, so I’ve changed it some to “God is in the details.” As a writer and designer, I like it better. It insinuates care, attention, and that the tiniest things can make the entire universe beautiful and inspiring.
“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication” -Jiro
Minimalism is the object or space stripped down to its most fundamental features. It is the most important design style to master. Minimalism aims for simplicity and objectivity. It wants to reduce works to the fundamental, the essential, the necessary, and to strip away the ornamental layers that might be placed on top.
Mies van der Rohe famously said “Less is more” to describe his aesthetic sense of having every element serve multiple purposes both visually and functionally. All three are saying the same thing. Minimalism is about designing smarter.
To master minimalist design means to master design itself. It’s difficult because you can’t hide behind ornament and decoration.
Minimalism does not mean take everything away until only black on a white background remains. It means communicating as much as possible with as few elements as possible. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals you can add meaningful aesthetics on top. Ornamentation works when it has a solid foundation to sit on.
Minimalism is about designing smarter.
