If your design is simple, it doesn’t distract from the reason someone is there.
When employed correctly, the goal of minimalist web design should be to present content and features in a simple, direct way by providing as little distraction from the core content as possible. This strategy often involves removing content or features that don't support the primary goals of the interface or its users.
Support the visitor’s beginning, middle, and end.
The design of the page should respect these three distinct phases: first, by inviting the reader in; second, by leaving her alone; and third, by providing avenues for her to continue to pursue her interests.
This need won’t change over time.
Our ability to handle large amounts of information is limited by our brain's processing power. Our performance suffers if it takes longer to understand information. We can get overwhelmed and miss important details. When we have larger body text in our compositions, it dominates more of the screen. This will require us to design a layout that allows the copy more room to breathe. It also could mean less copy is observable at any one time than before. In short, it could minimize clutter, reduce extraneous cognitive load, and result in improved usability.
What do we want people to think of us as designers?
At the end of the day, it all comes down to moments of truth, these rare moments by which other people judge our abilities, our performance and even our personality ... When a user fires up a project we've designed, full of expectations ... do we want to ... add noise to the web and impede people to get their messages across, or do we want to be the ones who push the web forward and help to make it a better place for reading and discovering information?
The designers behind the UK government’s online presence serve millions of people. They’ve made this a central principle.
Avoid unnecessary decoration. Only use images if there's a real user need.
Images are one of the biggest culprits.
The Web is smothering in useless images. These clichéd, stock images communicate absolutely nothing of value, interest or use. They are one of the worst forms of digital pollution because they take up space on the page, forcing more useful content out of sight.
But colour also tempts us too much.
It is best to use three or lesser colors in your design. Having too many colors in your designs may confuse the user or bring the attention of the user to less important areas. When you have a single brand color and use it selectively on a design that's complete in black and white, the eyes of the user naturally get dragged into these “color” areas.
Being mindful of your use of colour is important to avoid distraction.
[Colour is important for] contrast and readability. If you make a tool that's heavily text-based, and you have to support a wide variety of differently-styled content that customers are largely providing, it all needs to be clear and readable with enough contrast, and without clashing with the app's overall design.