Why Minimalism is a moving target
Minimalism always came naturally to me. Minimalism is efficient. Why do more if you could do less? Why complicate when we could simplify?
Designing with the proper principles of minimalism is like painting a wall. To do it effectively you must spend the majority of your time preparing the surface. The best minimal products exist to solve the root of problems. But getting to that root is what takes the majority of the time. You need to live with the issue. See it from multiple angles, observe it & research it, until you understand the base principles that cause it.
The best minimalist designs do not need updating because they tackle the roots of problems, then are created with minimalist principles applied at every stage of their development. In doing this, products developed in this way can become timeless. Function meeting form in its purest sense (or pure enough that the effort it would take to improve them outweighs any potential benefit).
Most companies understand & want to apply the principles of minimalism effectively. It is hard to argue with its logic. Good minimal design is cheap to produce but can be equal or more effective at solving problems. Often minimalist design solutions are the most robust mechanically because they have fewer layers of complexity. The issue we have is that budgetary requirements push us to make the early decisions quickly. We cannot afford to spend ninety percent of the time ‘preparing the wall’ so rush into ideas, then apply the principles of minimalism to their design afterwards as an afterthought. This approach can create products that look minimalist, but do not encapsulate minimalism’s core principles. The issue they aim to solve never got to the root. These products may look minimalist, but give minimalism a bad name by applying the aesthetic principles of minimalism to the wrong solution.
To use an example I have seen on social media recently. A true minimalist designers’ approach to improving Car UI’s from 2010 onwards would be to look at how users are interfacing with cars, research the experience thoroughly and slowly remove or improve physical buttons until you are left with the most effective, efficient system for driving. A system that has been tested in different scenarios and is now ergonomic, efficient, satisfying to use & intuitive. A true minimalist may not to stop there, are cars the most efficient vehicles for our roads? How could we look at making the whole system more efficient? Of course, in the context of client projects sometimes these lines of questioning are impractical, but I hope you see my point, cars themselves are increasingly becoming a poor solution to the problem of how to travel for individuals because of growing populations. In a lot of places, Oxford included, there are simply too many cars on road systems that were not built to handle that amount of traffic. Minimalism is about efficiency at its core, & the current system is becoming less and less efficient.
The reality we have seen is that the majority of car makers have opted, rather than to solve any issues with functionality for the user is to opt to increase profit margins by using large central touchscreens that completely replace the central UI console. It looks clean, is cheaper for the company to produce and is awful to use. Some people perceive touchscreen UIs in cars as minimalist design but this approach muddies the water & I would argue is short-sighted thinking from these companies. If you want to produce a product that makes quick profit, this approach works but eventually your client base will opt for better solutions to the real problems of a poor user experience.
The biggest companies you see today all began because they had a great idea that solves a problem better than their competitors. In order to do this, I think you have to study and understand the root of the problem, the value your solutions brings then how your solution can be simplified, honed and reduced to its bare essentials to reduce complexity and maximise its value. These ideas are the heart of what I believe to be true minimalist design.