In the current trend, the web is constantly moving towards simplicity.
What exactly does this mean? Simply by design or simple to use?


The popular guidelines about keeping a design simple are to avoid using gradients, avoid heavy graphics, avoid images for navigation and so on. However, the actual purpose of simplification as we designers understand it, is to remove clutter from the design. There are ample number of designs that depend a lot on graphics but are still easy to use and navigate. Such designs enable the user to focus on the content, than the design itself. After all content is king.

Simple designs, put simply are the designs that drive the users’ focus to the content and is certainly not about the number of images used, weight(size) of the images used or the use of gradients as some may tell us. Though, limiting the number of images used and the weight of these images to a minimum for better user experience and shorter load times is a completely different story.

Below are some examples of ‘graphicy’ websites that are still easy to use and navigate:

Tearoundapp

Metalab

SilverbackApp

Douglas Menezes Blog

Envato

OldLoft

Newtoyork

IconDock

Positive Hype

Weloveicons

As they always say, content is king and web design is no exception. The design, aesthetics and in fact the simplicity itself should aid in removing clutter and making the content stand out. Using black and white elements all over the place, confusing the user what the actual content is not really a stand-out simple design. The process of simplification should not be focused on the graphics used, though the graphics used does aid in reducing the clutter in the design.