Minimalism has been the quite the fad these days influencing pretty much everything we see/use around us.
It has been with us for quite some time and maybe we should start to think if we have taken the concept a bit too far.
But first we should understand what is minimalism.
As defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, Minimalism is “a style in art, design, and theater that uses the smallest range of materials and colors possible, and only very simple shapes or forms”.
Minimalism in layman terms is making an object simple to use,see and feel.
When i say minimalistic you are probably reminded of the Japanese zen artwork,clean lines and neat art.The world adopted minimalism in the early days of making products because most products were jarring,bright, and in an intense competition to grab a persons attention.
Some examples are below :
And they were right.If a product was placed in a shelf,all a person could see was a barrage of colors.Formally, minimalism is 1960s and 1970s invention.It started a trend of making products in a simplistic style and form.Probably the one which got most of the worlds attention was the the famous iMac G3. After the release of the iMac it in itself spawned several look a like concepts and built various knock-offs in various shades of beige.
Now true to minimalism there is an contrast school called maximalism which was also from japan.
Maximalism is a loud style composed of mixed patterns, excessive, but curated collections, and saturated colors where the philosophy is “more is more”.Maximalism has been around for a while,but has not been embraced at large by most designers.
The Problem?
In recent years the competition between products has been increasing in a huge rate.Companies are shameless in copying each other design and ideas.As we have got used to the less is more motto more and more products have become exceedingly similar to anyone.These days one cannot differentiate between an iPhone and an android knock-off.They have become so similar that it is almost cringey to see.In the process of making products more and more simple we have resisted to make creative and different designs. Minimalism once mastered is very easy to make and copy.Consider the phones today,the same pure white used in entire the iPhone cases or the Android knockoff,its look clean and elegant but again it looks like the same others in the market.
One of the reasons of these designs maybe that the companies are not willing to be adventurous in pursuing different phone cover designs or the such.Minimalism has become a tried and worked out formula that people maybe afraid to dabble in different designs.
I don’t necessarily mean a maxmimalistic design maybe something in between.For example the phone that i use has a cover that I love to see.It is a step different from the usual pure white/black.
Though to some it may look too much i like it due to the it at least tries to differentiate from its competitors.
The Solution?
People have to remind themselves that differentiating themselves from the crowd is not a bad time and that maybe differentiating from the very thing can some time make them stand out more be whether it is a new design innovation or a color patterns in a phone cover.
References : https://www.toptal.com/designers/ui/maximalist-design
