"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to
add, but when there is nothing left to remove." -
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French Writer (1900-1944)
Perfection in this case refers to minimalism, where the goal is to
expose the essence of a design by removing all non-essential
forms.
In the early days of interaction design, extensive
metaphors were used to communicate the purpose of designs through
the recreation of real world interactions. These metaphors were
developed to ensure a user had the correct mental model when
delving into a new user experience, understanding what can be
clicked, opened or moved by linking it directly with something in
reality.
A great example of this is the concept of a desktop for
the interaction with a PC, and the rendering of folders and icons
that represent real world objects, such as the recycle bin used as
a literal metaphor for where 'trash files' belong. Because this
interaction was completely new, this approach was almost necessary
to provide a clear understanding of how the behaviour was to
function and what the user was expected to do.
The process of ornamenting interactive elements is often
referred to in design circles as "chrome". In web design this is
most often represented by faux shadows, gradients and textures to
represent real world objects.
The argument for a less is more approach, particularly in web
design, is that users now have a developed sense of what may be
interacted with. When presented within an interface, the necessity
of extreme ornamentation that represents real world objects is no
longer essential, due to the user being familiar with the behaviour
that is expected.
Furthermore, the benefits of minimalism, and its success, have
been proven everywhere. Take product design; companies like Apple
have established their core ideology around it. The iPhone and the
iPad are successful for a variety of reasons, one of those being
because of their simplicity and their ease of use. Apple achieves
this by removing all unnecessary embellishment and reducing the
form down to the essential elements required for interaction.
A minimalistic approach to web design can have many benefits
when done correctly and with the ever-growing popularity of mobile
browsing it is almost a necessary approach. This is due to a
decrease in screen real estate, which forces designers to think
about what is really necessary. Less screen real estate leaves no
room for superfluous chrome obligating designers to remove any
unnecessary ornamentation that will detract from the core user
experience.
In many cases, extensive rendering of real world elements now
hinders the user experience. Over-ornamentation confuses the user
and designers are forced to add even more chrome to provide hints
to where a user should click, interact or look next.
An example of this is an online representation of a book. The
expected interaction of turning a page may be replaced with a mouse
click. Instead of imitating physical interactions like this, the
appropriate use of typography, colour, weight and animation can
enhance interaction by improving visibility and affordance to more
important elements by removing those that are not. The popularity
of this online design approach is evident through the acceptance of
content readers such as Instapaper, Readability and Flipbook. These
applications use a minimalist, easy-to-read design to separate
content from the overly graphical elements of a web page. Mike
Kruzeniski, current creative director for Windows Phone at
Microsoft wrote in relation to this trend;
"[it is] unfortunate that 'Design' has become synonymous
with noise, overly graphic, heavily decorated, ornamented
experiences that stand in the way of content."
He goes on to explain the benefit of looking to print design as
inspiration for improving interaction, by bringing content to the
fore and allowing it in itself to beautify the user experience.
Great examples of this content-first approach in print design are
the advertising campaigns from the Mad Men era. These designs
portrayed products in a clear, concise manner, where there is no
question about what is being communicated. They illustrated that
the content itself creates an atmosphere, through striking use of
colour, typography, and bold use of white space. The content
presented in this way can be as effective, if not more effective,
than chrome.
As designers, our job isn't to create artistic masterpieces, but
rather to develop well-thought-out cohesive interactions. The
advantage of taking the minimalist, less-is-more approach allows us
to focus on the purpose of a website, thus delivering content in a
clear, unobtrusive way. Focusing on what is necessary creates a
user experience that is honest to the medium it was designed for.
And paying more attention to the use of colour, typography and
animation allows content to provide the ornamentation to beautify
the interaction.
A key advocate of this approach - design demi-god Dieter Rams -
outlined the ten most important principles of good design, one of
which is key to this design approach:
"Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better -
because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and products are
not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to
simplicity."
Less is better.
References
How Print Design is the Future of Interaction
http://kruzeniski.com/2011/how-print-design-is-the-future-of-interaction/