Minimalism – a Design Game?

The challenge of designing “Simple Computing in an Age of Complexity” emphasizes the simple within the complex, focusing on the contradiction between the urge for ‘ease of use’ and the need for system complexity. Design must bridge this gap and make the complex appear simple – less is more. So far, many will agree. But, what exactly is the meaning of ‘less’ and ‘more’ in ‘less is more’, a less than self-explaining phrase? What aspects of a design need to be reduced in order to produce a better product? Following the assumption that a systematic analysis can help understand and plan design, minimalism is restudied in this paper. The existence of historic experience with the phrase ‘less is more’ in art, dance and music, and minimalism as the corresponding ‘style’, promises the extraction of generalizeable principles. Four notions of minimalism, namely functional, structural, constructional and compositional minimalism, are presented as a framework for the analysis and advancement of designs for interactive artefacts. The framework is presented in the form of a Minimal Design Game to encourage a playful approach towards reflection.