I went to a lecture last year to see Wim Crouwell talk. It was a great talk and one of the many things that inspired me was the way he spoke about graphic design being solely a tool for communication. The way it was described was that his technique was generally to find the simplest and most effective way of communicating and nothing more. To almost boil a design down so far that you are left with only the purest of elements.
I think this is probably how all designers should approach projects. Whilst it sounds really simple it is usually a long process of subtraction. It involves really analysing something and asking what core elements make it what it is? It is also a lot about looking at the brand and defining the key features.
But designers are after all communicators and this process is one all about communication. I wanted to share a couple of examples of really minimal design which relies on only the absolutely necessary of information to achieve the purpose.
A good example of this is the apple logo. One of the most recognisable symbols of the 20th century it is the form of this I want to look at today. It is made entirely from such simple features and geometric shapes to do the bare minimum to be a symbol of an apple. But most distinguishing thing for me is the lack of a stem and simply placing the leaf above the apple is enough.
Daniel Eatock also showed a great example as an alternative to the London 2012 logo. It is based on the classic British RAF symbol combined with the olympic rings. Again it is the simplest of forms and seems wonderfully obvious once its out there. Someone once described genius as seeing something that has always been there and yet noticing it.
I tried to use this approach for this logo for a dog show I did last year. I spent ages playing about with the shape of a dof or complex combinations of type faces and then realised that the correct solution was probably the most simple.
Another wonderful example of this is these posters I found by Exergian. These are great examples of taking the most recognisable features and illustrating with the simplest of forms. The knightrider one in particular is so simple, in a way so obvious and yet also splendidly original. It leaves you with the envious feeling of why didnt I think of that?
Especially in logo design and branding this can be a really useful process and one more designers should go through. Much of design has become about making something pretty or dressing it, but we must remember that first and foremost the trade is about communication. Even when complication is needed, it should flow from the simple and necessary information building upon this to achieve the desired technique.
Hope you enjoyed the post. Do you have any examples to add to this list?
How very unoriginal of you to cite Apple.
Thanks for the comment John. Well I agree apple is spoken about a lot now, but for me it was the process that was interesting. For example the constant process of reduction to only the absolutely necessary information. Tried to give other examples as well.