Etsbox.com and TrackLab have pretty minimalistic design. That’s because I am not a designer. I have no experience. In all my jobs, I had design layouts – I only had to convert them into HTML/CSS.
When it comes to choosing UI elements appearence I struggle every time. What color? What shape? Borders? Fonts? Paddings? What about animations? A designer has answers. I don’t.
That’s why I prefer default elements and minimalistic design. And I believe this approach is good for UX: users don’t get distracted by fancy fonts, colors, and animations. They may look cool, but often you simply don’t need them.
What’s really important is the placement of elements. All functions should be accessible in one to three taps. Related form elements should be grouped. The bottom panel should have links only to frequently used sections. And so on.
For this site I use good old WordPress theme from 2011. It looks a little outdated, but it’s truly minimalistic. I remember it from my college days and just got used to it. I plan to update it in the future, but now developing TrackLab is my priority.
I like TrackLab design (it would be strange if I didn’t). Minimalism makes it look like a tool, not like a toy. I have plans to add some gamification elements like achievements, streaks, etc, but they will be designed in the same minimalistic way.
Design is not the only area where I stick to minimalism. I’m also trying to keep fewer things in my life. That doesn’t mean that I don’t buy anything. It only means that I easily get rid of things I don’t need anymore. For example, it allowed me to move to Thailand with only a half-filled backpack and a laptop.