Minimalism is a design style that emphasizes simplicity and the removal of surplus elements in a design, stripping it right down to its basic elements, colors, shapes and textures. This style was overlooked within the early dot com days of the web, but it surely has now become highly regarded in web site design. The fundamentals of minimal design for my part are balance, alignment and lots of negative space. This is my pick of web sites from a variety of genres that adopt this approach o.k..

Teehan Lax – Design Agency

Stripping a design agency right down to its bare fundamentals is not any easy task! Most design studios over-design the homepage when all it’s really required is a strap-line clearly explaining what the corporate does and maybe some rich imagery to tease the user. The Teehan Lax homepage delivers. Even the menu have been reduced to the now acceptable 3 bars motif and people buttons with just a depiction stroke are subtle but effective calls to action. In case you skip to the blog page, this was stripped back to well-formatted text with hints of contrasting colour to focus on links. Combining different-sized fonts is a smart technique to add visual interest without clutter.

Lacoste – Sports Commerce

Generally Ecommerce sites are guilty of overpowering the homepage with products, offers and deals. Lacoste is different. Anybody knowledgeable about the logo will know that Lacoste is all about plenty of white, including clean and straightforward contrasting colours. Lacoste carry these values over to the united kingdom website. Plenty of white space teamed with paired back navigation make for a serene online experience. The goods frame the location using a clever grid system refining the alignment of everything. The product images are bold enough to feature visual impact without adding clutter.

Squarespace – Large Commercial

I think Squarespace deserves a mention here, if not for its commercial website then for the array of minimal templates that it offers on the market. Each template is individually crafted, usually filling the screen and giving the reader a breath of unpolluted air compared to other fussy design templates. Squarespace sites are inclined to balance large striking imagery with well-formatted type, keeping everything visually pleasing, organized and readable. Squarespace is becoming very hot with creative people, proving that minimal templates have mass-market appeal.

Mellbye – Architects

If there’s one discipline that actually understands minimalism, it’s architecture. Long before websites, architects were bringing pared-back structure to our cities. Mellbye is a provider of architectural services based in Oslo. Some might argue the Mellbye website looks unfinished with out a coherent border/frame/footer in place. In actuality the web site makes great use of the white space; without it, you’d prove with another style that’s not truly minimalist. The history page is an ideal of example of not aligning every element but still managing to retain a great page structure. This style may look simple, but shouldn’t be easy to design. What you permit out of a design is simply as important as what you install.

Layervault – UK Startup

Being a startup and channeling a minimal theme is fearless. It has to work for Layervault since the whole ethos of the corporate is ‘Simple version control for designers.’ a hectic design would conflict with what’s essentially an easy product. The homepage is awfully stark, determining a variety of white space and subtle animations. The animations are simple and clear, involving moving lines with primary colours so as to add a marginally of interest. The design can be very narrow (580px) so when viewed on an outsized monitor can appear very contained. i feel this adds to the entire feel. Grey dividing lines are used as borders between sections and the white space between columns are spaced evenly to create a way of calm.