Ease of access of by far a huge part of daily online browsing. We as a collective body of internet, have evolved past fever-dream moving graphics, sparkles and crazed webpages to minimalist. The goals now are to not online provide comfortable visuals but extreme ease of access. Everything one needs to know about a webpage should be seen in the span of seconds. Never allowing the visitor, user or customer to hold any confusion on where to go. The perfect flow of traffic we could envy in real life.
This collective trend was born from the realization the internet held for making money, or rather more specifically; marketing! As with marketing the name of the game is speed, or how quickly can you communicate or send a message. This evolution in design was also slowly reflected in modern graphic design. For example if we look at the popular Art Nouveau style of layout the details, while beautiful, cause the viewer to linger far too long. It’s messages or products not immediately clear. Overtime we see a shift to simplistic and simpler advertisements.
So in the same vein so did layout and website design from early internet days go from overly detailed or simple. I personally chose my layout with this mantra in mind. There is very little going on down to the bare bones. Opting also for dark colors to as most people prefer reading on screen with darker backgrounds so the text or images pop to reduce eye strain. I’d like to aim all my visuals and content to deliver the most comfortable reading experience.
I completely agree with this post. The minimalist design allows the viewer to focus completely on the content while minimizing distractions. With so much content blasted in our faces all the time, it is important sometimes to direct the viewer down a predictable path.
ReplyDeleteHi, Autumn! This is a very profound statement that argues something which is constantly overlooked in the industry. Countless professionals are paid to deliver a poor user experience with cluttered links, confusing navigation, and flashy distracting images and ads. I respect the minimalist approach to this, as I tend to be a minimalist in most aspects of my personal life. Overall, I agree for the most part, although sometimes using flashy images to catch the eye of readers can be effective marketing and appropriate for the specific post. For this blog, however, I find it important to have the information be the focus, rather than any distracting theme, ads, etc. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHey Autumn, love your name btw. I like how you said everything now a days has to really get your attention because the world is filled with so much social media gimmicks. I like this minimalist approach, usually for anything I would pick black, white and an accent color in order to look as clean as possible.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree the importance of accessibility and information being displayed on the front of home page of a website. It is crucial that information can be easily found, and the viewer does not have to dig for important details! That being said, the template and theme you chose for your blog complement those ideals, simplistic and accessible.
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