Minimal
An aesthetic built on reduction: every element that isn’t structurally necessary is removed, and the few that remain carry the whole design.
Example usage
“Linear is minimal — a handful of surfaces and one accent color carry the entire product.”
Editor’s note
Minimal is about quantity, not volume — the count of elements, not their intensity. That’s the distinction from quiet. Minimalism’s failure mode is removing affordances along with decoration: when the chrome goes, what remains has to work harder, not vanish too.