TIPS FOR MINIMALISTIC GRAPHIC DESIGN
Minimalism embraces simplicity on every stage. The main aim of a minimalistic design is to grab the public eye on the contents and most essential elements, striking out all the distracting objects, colour palettes and design elements. Even though the graphic designer has to build a basic design, sometimes it becomes hard to accomplish this. Since this design requires the same amount of clarity and performance as a regular design but with lesser elements.
BRIEF HISTORY
Minimalist design first arose in the 1950s and 60s as response to an increasingly noisy, technologically-advancing culture. Suddenly simplicity, clean lines, and oodles of white space began to appear more and more in visual art, architecture and graphic design.
The grungy, collage-driven styles of the 90’s were replaced by the bright colours of the early 2000’s, and by the 2010’s, minimalism was more than primed for a comeback. Only now are we seeing its power to grab attention in the ever-scrolling world of social media or mobile experience. From clean and airy websites to stylish Instagram feeds full of tasteful flat lay photography, brands across the spectrum are fully embracing the minimalist design trend.
Here are some basic key features which have to be followed while building a minimalistic graphic design.
*SPACING
Usage of maximum white space, so that focus falls upon the content elements. Make clever use of the grid system. Balance of spaces and placement of objects have to be maintained on the frame. Because there are high chances of imbalance due to the large white empty spaces.
*AVOID DESIGN TRICKS
By design tricks, we mean all the stuff you’d normally do to pump up a website’s look – drop shadows, texture, image frames, crazy typefaces. In minimalist, it’s best if you stay away from all these and focus on colour, plain fonts, and content instead. Strip those cluttering details away.
*USE GRID WHILE DESIGNING
Well, a grid will help you create a simple design without having the risk of making it cluttered. When using a grid, you will keep all your elements organized in the layout and it will be easier for you to group them logically.
In this way, it will be easy for the viewers to follow your designs’ patterns so that they will understand and appreciate it better.
*ATTRACTIVE TOPOGRAPHY
The topography grabs the utmost attention, as there are no much design objects on the frame. Thus topography has to be very clear and readable.
Since there’s not a lot of other visual material competing for attention, a minimal style needs to feature clean and readable typography to be most effective. Add a few subtle elements to highlight keywords, phrases or messaging, such as colour.
*UNDERSTANDABLE USER INTERFACE
The user interface should not be complicated, every user just by a glance must easily understand the working and interactions with it. User must understand where to start from, the important details and the information flow.
*SIMPLICITY
Keep it simple by choosing a font and colour pallet tat’s limited. Every item on the frame must have plenty of space around it.
But that doesn’t always mean it is easy to design. Sometimes the simplest visual and functional designs are actually quite complicated to develop. Consider a key element that will serve as the visual in the minimalist graphic design and focus on how to get users to look at that.
*EXPLORE HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP
Embracing minimalism in no way means that your design has to be any less creative. In fact, when you’re not bogged down in complex visuals, you often get a chance to explore and play with clever relationships hidden within your design.
*COLOUR AND IMAGE USABILITY
Many people believe that monochromatic colour palettes are the be all and end all of minimalism, but this isn’t quite true. Colour can be used to create an eye-catching design without foregoing minimalism, as long as the palette is kept relatively small.
We can use images while designing. But these must be simple and not over crowded. It is not necessary that we use only white, we can also use some simple, non-competing colour pellet expressing our ideas.
*ICONISM
Icons are useful little items that most of us use every day, from app icons to the toolbar icons on your computer. Icons can be used very effectively in the world of minimalism, as well. They can enhance accessibility, reduce the amount of text or type you have on a page and help guide users around your design visually.
*BE DIRECT
When there are less elements fighting to be seen, you are able to be a lot more direct with your message and overall communication. This is especially useful when it comes to web design, as we all tend to skim pages, a direct and plain message of intent
*MINIMIZING ELEMENTS
After completing the whole design, one must go through each and every element and double verify its purpose and importance, and discard the non-needed ones.
To come up with a minimalist graphic design project, your primary goal is to avoid cramming too many elements on any given page to enhance readability and maintain attention. Make it most creative with minimum resource. Keep playing with the templates and elements until you come up with a design which portrays your vision.