Clean, Simple and Minimalist Web Design – Why Simplicity is Crucial

It goes without saying that technology is constantly evolving and so is the way consumers respond to it. That can only mean one thing—your website has to keep up with both. It is crucial now more than ever to feature a unique web design on your website if you want it to stand out among your competitors.

In all my research over the years there’s always one piece of advice that keeps arising: Simplicity. Keeping things clean and simple is both aesthetically pleasing and memorable, and will keep your website in your audiences’ front of mind for a long time after they’ve left.

The best way to demonstrate simplicity, according to multiple sources, is to create a one-page website. “It’s a great way to have a large impact with a small amount of content,” writes Kelli Shaver in this Mashable article. With a single-page website, all the content is placed on one page, but the user only sees a section at one time. Obviously this design element won’t work for every site, but I think they can be very effective for certain content—wedding announcements, restaurant menus, resumes and events, just to name a few.

According to Insite Design Lab, there are at least three kinds of single-page websites: vertical scroll, horizontal scroll and 2D scroll.

There are great examples of all three around the web, but the best way to go about this is to pick just one element. Most people would probably find it annoying having to deal with a vertical scrollbar in addition to a horizontal one, ~vertical would probably be your best option as its the most commonly used

Here’s an example of a single-page site I stumbled upon last year and I bookmarked it simply because of the beautiful web design: “The Story of Jess & Russ.” It makes my case that simplicity coupled with beautiful graphics can really make an impact with the average web user.

Written by Stephanie

Stephanie Wharton has written 4 articles.

Stephanie Wharton @HNN_Stephanie. HotelNewsNow.com reporter, Temple U. alum. I love telling stories, big cities and crossing things off lists hailing from Cleveland, OH - Education - Temple University - Broadcast Journalism, 2006 - 2010

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