20th october 2002

some (short) comments on minimalist web design, and the aims of this site

If you've spent a bit of time looking around this site you'll have noticed that it's quite simple in design. Personally I like to term this elegant minimalism. In some ways this site is not truly minimalist going by a working definition of "the minimum is defined as the perfection an artefact achieves when it is no longer possible to improve it by subtraction." (paraphrased from Minimum by John Pawson) because it includes needless little features like the pop-up menus in the gallery section. However, I do think I have achieved a certain amount of elegant simplicity that retains user functionality and a minimalist aesthetic. This is the over-riding philosophy of the site design.

A lot of the simplicity comes from the abundance of white space, and gentle grey headings that lead you calmly into each page. While it is true to say that minimalism doesn't just have to equal white space - form, clean lines, utilitarian functionality and many other factors can be just as important - I think that from a web point of view a combination of pale shades and simple user interface fulfil the minimalist criterion well.

But enough of this preamble. I did not design the site like this because I am a minimalist. While I often admire those who are I know that there is too much clutter and laziness in my life to function in that way. If living in a space for half an hour produces mess that takes an hour to clean up then it is just not an economical choice! Two main factors made me consider a minimal design - the love of white space on the computer screen (particularly when a photo is sitting in the centre of it), and the hate of all the clutter that is taking over the web. Oh, and the fact that I'm still a bit of a beginner at web programming...

It happened when I was browsing some photography sites (can't remember which ones at the moment). There were some excellent pictures on display, but I found that I was really distracted by the banner ads, menu bars, pop-ups, background colours... pretty much everything about the site detracted from the point of them: showing the pictures! Commercial sites are generally the worst offenders, with all manner of wiz-bang graphics and ads popping up all over the place, but a lot of semi-professionals seem to be succumbing to the ad craze as well. This is quite disturbing as the things have been shown to generate virtually no revenue over the past few years since the 'bubble burst', and it also takes the web away from us. Add to this terrible background patterns, overpowering borders around the pictures, poor interface design, and a hundred and one other don'ts of web design.

The book No Logo has some crap in it, and some very interesting stuff too (don't trust anyone who says the last third is not poor). One idea that really relates to the web is the branding of public spaces. This started with things like advertising at sports events, but moved up a notch to sponsorship where the company owns the event. As soon as this occurs the public event (or space or whatever) is no longer public, thus public interest is no longer a concern for those who manage the thing. Examples of this are seen in the privatisation of schools, hospitals and railways; as well as galleries that become corporate owned, movie companies that buy up independent video shops etc. etc. On the web it is manifest in the myriad of banner ads, pop-ups and sites that are nothing but shameless self-promotional puff pieces.

For me this is exactly what the web is not about. Yes, it's great to be able to do shopping online, and read about the latest products from manufacturers websites, but there is no longer the separation of services that we enjoy at home. If I don't want to shop I don't go to the shops. The web is now becoming a place where it is hard to exercise that choice - I am beaten about the brain by all these stupid ads when I'm trying to look at some art. The web started as a fantastically democratic medium, anyone could put up some content and if it was good you'd get somewhere, content was king.

For many of us that is still the ideal, but with so much crap out there it is hard to find the content and the site that still fits the old ideals. When they do succeed they're the best - google took minimalist looks and top-notch functionality to become the top search engine - but sooner or later the corporate greed seems to kick in. This was the problem with the art sites, even when I found relatively small sites that were presumably personal, rather than corporate, the ads were still there as everyone scrambled for the quick buck. Cretins.

As a rebellion against this I decided to stick true to the utilitarian aims the web used to have, mixed in with an understated, uncluttered style that would best show my pictures. Of course, as this site is new I am hoping to have content that is king, but it is going to take a while to grow. And, naturally, like everyone else I am trying to sell something. I can't help this as the oppressive regime I live under - capitalism - demands this of me. I'm not trying to get rich quick, I just want to earn enough to get by on.

So I hope you enjoy the minimalist (maybe) look of the site. I hope you enjoy the pictures (these are copyleft in deference to the free source software movement) and the writing. For my part I will continue to add content, show my pictures and try to be independent in the full force of the storm.

< back to words etc. >