Drawar

I wouldn't exactly say that it's a trend, but more of a realization that you don't need all the visual bells and whistles to communicate a message. Never-the-less, I've been a fan of simplicity for quite some time, and some of my favorite sites have a simple yet gorgeous design.

Personally I think simplicity can be beautiful, but simplicity on it's own does not create beauty.

But then really that's the same with most things isn't it?

I like simplicity in interaction and generally navigating around. Visually I love color. Designs that use both grab my attention.

I've notice a lot of people define simplicity as monochromatic and devoid of imagery. They use typography to compensate for that. What ends up happening is the page becomes overloaded with text. Then some designs take it a step further and assign 3 or more columns to their layouts. The whole thiing ends up looking like a newspaper. Personally I don't like that.

I also appreciate simplicity in design, and I think that if done right, a simple design can outshine anything fancy. Personally I think that colour is beautiful though, and that it is the most important element of any design.

In fact, I just redesigned my personal blog with a strong approach of simplicity, and if anyone wish to comment on it, I would appreciate it :) You can see it here.

Looks like you just downloaded Derek's free theme and made a couple of minor changes and are now claiming credit for the design.

Not cool.

Was that in response to me? If that's the case, I have never even seen Derek's free theme. My theme was actually based on brajeshwar, as clearly stated in the footer. Although there's not much resemblance of the orignal blue and white three column theme left.

Edit: Oh, I probably should have looked at the theme you posted about first. I guess you were talking to the note starter, and not me?

@j-mathias: When I said: "In fact, while recently redesigning my site I was influenced greatly by another 9ruler 5ThirtyOne." I should've been more specific to say that I did indeed use one of his themes.

My apologies.

Simplicity can be beautiful yes, Apple's iPhone page is a perfect example. The main problem with simplicity is that it's widely misunderstood by designers.

Like a famous designer once said: I will be happy with my design once there's nothing to take away.

Simplicity is very beautiful when applied properly. There is a lot of bad design out there where simplicity is used as an excuse for laziness though.

If you're using his theme, you should at least credit him back in your blog.

From 5ThirtyOne:

"About & Legal

Although there are no monetary requirements needed in order to utilize the October Special, I reserve the right to request that any credits concerning the theme origin be retained and that any distributions of the theme be limited to 5thirtyone.com (unless otherwise agreed upon - contact me). The only motivation for this request is due to my attempt to control officially updated revisions."

There are plenty of simple things that don't work. And I wouldn't say that Derek's theme is simple. In fact, I'd say it was one of the more complex theme designs around. Sure, it isn't image and color-heavy, but it does have a lot going on, content-wise.

I think that well-designed economy is pretty brilliant. It isn't simplicity that's important, but the understanding of what is necessary and what is not.

The thing I like about minimalism is that it leaves more to the user to interprete. Instead of a complex graphical theme that's mediating a story, the canvas is vague and abstract.

Classical music (e.g. Beethoven) contains only notes, an abstract pattern that leaves the meaning to the imagination of the listener. Adding vocals immediately limits the interpretation of the music, as we've added a more explicit message. The Moonlight Sonata might be a tale of sorrow or a tale of hope — but We are the Champions can only be interpreted in one general way.

So in this sense minimal design has a longer lifespan. Its meaning grows with the user, and changes when the user changes it.

That's why less is more.

I think it's pretty crappy you used Derek's design and then stripped his credits out of the footer.

Hmm.. You are supposed to leave credit only so visitors can find out where the theme was from.. If you're not going to leave the name, at least mention the source of the theme. I know you have a dedicated post explaining where it is from but how many people will find that once the post is buried?

Settle down guys. I have sent an e-mail to Derek. I wanted to use an icon similar to the 9rules logo instead of the text.

I understand that giving credit is important, I just hadn't the opportunity to do it yet (I'm not even done modifying it).

I can't stop them, they're assembling outside with torches and pitchforks!

Dude, cpoteet.

Seriously, with all due respect, I'm going to call bullshit here.

You downloaded a theme, knowingly removed the credits, started a note about being all inspired and creating a new minimal theme implying that it was your work.

Then when you got called out, you amended saying it was based of that theme, then as the heat gets hotter you amend again saying you had intended on replacing text credits with a graphic.

I think it's all BS, I think you were trying to pull a fast one and got caught, now you're back peddling.

Why did you start a note "look at my design" if it wasn't finished, and you knew that the credits were missing? Why did you remove them at all, no reason they couldn't have been left in place until five minutes before you made the change. (which is still not made)

I've seen a lot of this kind of stuff over the years, and it's always the same story once the guy gets caught.

Bro, I've lost a lot of respect for you from this whole thing. I hope you make it right, cause at this point I'm kind of ashamed that you're in 9rules and pulling crap like this.

cpoteet: As well as you have the time to respond, more than once, to this post you started, it certainly does not take more time, to your site, and update the credits. You log in here, you can log in there, you type here, you can type a one-liner, there.

I have added the text credits until I receive an image from Derek to use.

All of this credit business aside, I don't think either site really emphasizes simplicity.

5ThirtyOne has a somewhat busy background and three columns. There's not a drop of whitespace anywhere in the design. That said, it's beautiful.

It is, to a normal beautiful three-column site, what a black and gray tattoo is to a color piece. Everything on the entire site is softened... off whites and grays... and well placed into the grid, but simple it is not.

Yeah, this is BS. Nothing upsets me more than a designer's hard work being nabbed. Please clear this issue up ASAP.

If it looks like a rip, walks like a rip, and talks like a rip..... it's a rip.

You simply got called on it and in this venue it's not surprising at all.

Controversy aside, to quote Antoine De Saintexupery:

A designer knows (s)he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

I first saw the above quote on David Airey's blog and to me it pretty much sums up the simple beauty of simplicity.

I think simplicity is beautiful. It's the direction I've taken on my new redesign, that once I squash all the bugs in Textpattern I'll bring live to my site.

I think I've gotten wary of being bombarded with tons of glitz and glam and advertising everywhere I go. My visual field is cluttered with the corpses of ads left to die and new ones to feast on the remains. When I see a simple, uncluttered design, it brings a smile to my face.

Smashing Magazine also agrees with this. They feature Mike's site!

Um, haha, proof of how irony works...Mike doesn't own that site anymore....

Oh Snap!

Mike doesn't own it anymore? Darn. I feel stupid.