First, let's take a look at minimalism. Is minimalism flat or flat-ish? It can be. Is minimalism white? It can be. Does minimalism mean less clutter? It can do. Minimalism can look like a lot of things but we often forget about what it aims to achieve – why do we actually need it?

Fundamentally, minimalist design advocates clarity mixed with intention; in other words 'no more than what's needed' to shift user focus to the most valuable aspects of the experience, while removing focus on the aspects that may distract users.

1. Limit choices

Limiting choice is one way to reduce cognitive overload, in turn helping the user make decisions more efficiently. However, for usability's sake, we'll need to include a couple of things:
  • Relevant choices
  • Alternative choices

Relevant choices

Deciding what's relevant to users depends on the context. For example, if we were showing a list of new blog articles, deciding on a few to showcase might depend on whether or not the user is logged in. With the former, we could use artificial intelligence to decipher the user's reading tastes.

With the latter, we wouldn't be able to tailor content to a specific user but that doesn't mean that we don't have data at our disposal. We can still list results based on traffic data.

Alternative choices

If we're designing our information architecture well, we'll be offering simple ways to access alternative options. For content, this could be a 'see all' button but for navigation, it could be a hamburger menu (yep, the hamburger menu isn't so bad!).

Even though less is more when it comes to minimalism, that doesn't mean we need to limit our overall offering, only our upfront offering. Minimal clutter = maximum impact!

2. Strip visual clutter

It's so easy to run with the wind when it comes to the surface layer – some call it over-designing. If something just doesn't feel right to you, Coco Chanel once said: “When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on”.

In terms of tap targets specifically (buttons, links, input fields and so on), visual affordance testing can reveal which elements appear to be clickable and which don't.

3. Optimize visual hierarchy

This means where users are briefly scanning our UI and content holistically, even the tiniest visual distraction can draw users away from what's really important, making minimisation ever more important when it comes to scannability. But that aside, the elements that are left after minimisation should complement each other well. Less is only more if we make it speak volumes.

Content and headings

Since users precap content by scanning its headings, these headings should be extremely informative, not only hinting at what its accompanying paragraphs will elaborate on but be good enough that if users only read the headings, they would still walk away satisfied – this is still true even if it costs us in terms of SEO value.

Headings should also benefit from a clear typographical hierarchy, aiding users in their effort to understand how individual snippets of content form a body of information.

UI and colour

A similar concept applies to UI and colour. Colour can not only help with contrasting but also help to infer meaning, so when users come across these tap targets, they automatically understand what it is they do or where it is they will lead to.

Getting the headings and colours right might not have anything to do with minimalism directly but it ensures that the elements we aren't willing to minimise are as effective as they can possibly be. Otherwise, we run the risk of over-designing in order to compensate.

4. Make more mean less

'Put everything on one screen. It's simpler, right?' In theory, this sounds like a top-notch idea but it's not a solution that works in every case. Some designs are more complex than others and, besides, simple for who? You need to be mindful of confusing simpler implementation (making things easier for developers) and simpler UX (making things easier for the users).

Consider breaking down UI-heavy components into smaller user flows. While technically this does result in more, it creates the illusion of less. Typically this means breaking up long forms into logical steps but it could also mean breaking up lengthy articles with images.

It comes down to visual hierarchy – eliminating clutter and using design to indicate importance. Sometimes that means moving things out of sight if it helps the user focus on what's really important.