09 - Minimalism — DAVE CASTLE

You’ve heard the phrases:

There’s beauty in simplicity.

Less is more.

Trim the fat.

Whether it’s the spaces I occupy, the clothes I wear, or the pictures I take, the idea is always the same: don’t complicate things.

When it comes to design, I believe a more stripped down approach adds more heft to a room. Take the picture above as an example.

Look how much weight the plant has from a balance perspective. Take the plant away, the room is dull. Add another two or three like it? Too crowded. But just that little hint of greenery brings the room together. A small, seemingly innocuous little accent is granted an added level of importance by way of design.

No mess, no clutter, no funky patterns or gaudy furniture pieces. It immediately puts the eyes and mind at ease.

The same formula can be applied to photography.

You shouldn’t have to stare at a picture to figure out what the subject is. It should be immediately apparent. If you’ve got too many patterns, too many colors, too many environmental distractions in the way, it takes away from the atmosphere and mood you’re trying to create.

Look at how effective the Aldo ad featured below is, using just 3 simple but crucial colors.

Blue dominates the scene, but the pop of yellow and the small hint of white makes the photo stand out vividly. No intricate background, no crazy outfits or poses, just good ol’ simplicity and color theory.

And remember, just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, simplicity can be one of the most difficult things to achieve.

There’s a reason why the Beatles were as big as they were (are?). They made ear worm after ear worm, without having to be as intricate and complex as Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones. Just simple yet effective sing-songy diddies that are almost always easy to cover by other artists, and allow enough room for those artists to put their own spin on the songs.

But there’s also a reason why, after all these years, there’s still only one Beatles. Doing what they did is fucking hard, and even more so to sustain it for as long as they did.

Just because something is complex doesn’t automatically make it smarter, and it doesn’t mean it was harder to create. Not to mention, to build up to complexity, you first have to start with a solid minimalist foundation. Even computers - as advanced as they are - boil down to a series of 1s and 0s at their most basic level.

For me, minimalism isn’t just a design aesthetic - it’s a way of life.