The document discusses designing a minimal user interface (UI). A minimal UI only shows users what they need through smart defaults, clear calls to action, and easy searchability. It encourages a logical workflow. Conversely, a UI is not minimal if it shows every option, has complicated layouts, poor component placement, inconsistent patterns, or unnatural behaviors. The document suggests taking away unnecessary elements, organizing layouts intuitively, grouping less frequent options, giving components space, and flattening the UI to improve usability and productivity with a cleaner, less distracting interface.

1. Designing a Minimal UI
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2. Cory LaViska
Founder
A Beautiful Site, LLC
Postleaf
postleaf.org
Surreal CMS
surrealcms.com
DirtyMarkup
dirtymarkup.com
@claviska

3. What is a Minimal UI?
• Only showing users what they need
• Encouraging a logical workflow
• Making frequent tasks easier for the user
• Smart defaults
• Clear calls to action
• Easy to search

4. What’s NOT a minimal UI?
• Showing users every possible option
• Complicated layouts
• Poor component placement
• Inconsistent UI patterns
• Unnatural UX behaviors

5. Not So Minimal

10. We Can Do Better!

11. What if we...
• Take away the things users don't need
• Organize our layouts intuitively
• Group similar, less frequently used options
• Give components room to breath
• Flatten things out to remove distractions

21. Less is More
• Users don’t need everything in front of them
• Clean, minimal UIs improve usability
• Less distraction equals more productivity
• More pleasant UI means a more pleasant UX

22. Thank You!
🎉
Cory LaViska @claviska