Flat colors, 2001 Space Odyssey, and Ronald McDonald’s previous status as MIA. What do these things have in common? Minimalism…our favorite LinkedIn advertising buzz word. Most recently the ill discretionary tactic of Cracker Barrel (since been back peddled, go figure), minimalism seems to be what every brand strategist dreams of at night and drools over at Thanksgiving (Grandma greenlit TG at the good old CB again FYI). Why, though? Especially, if it can have such strong repercussions to a brand’s image?
We talking Bauhaus, the importance of the object, global scalability, and logos that make us scratch our heads. We talking MINIMALISM!
We Bauhusin’
If you have had any upper echelon exposure to the art world, you know trends tend to wave over the arts starting with rogue professors and their underlings and ending in the hands of big four agency executives. Basically the equivalent of seeing your favorite band go from 5k listeners to 10m on Spotify.
So where did minimalism come from? The German Bauhaus movement…and some other groups such as the Russian Collectivists and Dutch De Stijl artists, but most notably and interestingly Bauhaus.
Now, these were some funky dudes for German standards. Understandable since their decline coincided with the pressures set by the rise of everybody’s least favorite mustachioed artist/fascist dictator and his disapproval of communist viewpoints.
In retrospect, Bauhaus isn’t anything too crazy. Oooo fine arts and craftwork touching elbows in academic study; that’s every modern-day art school dropout’s party talking point. The reality of the movement’s impact is the combination of artistic vision with emphasis on function and production. Ahhhh, there's communism.
Minimalist Key Object: Strip away conventional characterizations of art by bringing the importance of the object or the experience a viewer has for the object with minimal mediation from the artist.
For the Bauhaus designers this meant big shapes, sharp lines, screen printing and 2001 Space Odyssey uncomfortable office furniture. Minimalism, not only pulling the soul out of branding, but contributes to your back pain. Affecting your life in more ways than one.
But…Why Now?
To understand “Why now?” is to understand the convergence of design and technology since the early 2000s. More history….I know right.
Moving through the 1980s and 90s, your average consumers had limited exposure to brands through the traditional channels. Meaning that everything had to make a strong impact to increase brand awareness. Leading to the vector-based design revolution of the late 1990s and early 2000s *cough cough adobe suite*, this created an environment for the ripe over utilization of texture, drop shadows, select/delete layer craziness and over the top color palettes.
Like what are we selling? Video games? More like a drug fueled rave in the Saw III dungeon.
For a spot in the 2000s consumer’s favorite magazine, this design works to make the user stop, take in the elements and unclutter the brand’s message. Hmmmm but what modern social media trend does this most remind us of??? Memes. Valueless, all consuming and over-saturated.
With the increasing presence of the internet and its “clutter” in the efforts to reach consumers, companies have been forced to reevaluate the functionality of their design elements. *minimalism peeks its boring head*
Soooo what is the function of the logo? At the core, it is visual shorthand. The attitude is to stamp it on anything and everything to brand it as your own. Wouldn’t be a coke with a Coco-Cola logo on it? Could be a pepsi and that would be gross.
At one time, the importance was to draw in the consumer and create impact through giant print ads and logos with memorable design features; today’s importance of the asset is recognizability and scalability in the digital space.
For global brands, this means minimizing their designs and creative strategy so that it stands out against the clutter. Ronald McDonald in a field of quarter pounders isn’t a great campaign strategy when it so easily lends itself to meme-ification.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, minimalism isn’t the villain nor the savior. It’s the inevitable byproduct of screens shrinking, attention spans collapsing, and marketers panicking. Logos didn’t get flatter because designers suddenly fell in love with Helvetica; they got flatter because they had to survive in a 1080 x 1360 px landscape.
The real questions is when does the benefits not weigh the rewards? Go ask Cracker Barrel.
