To effectively communicate your message and make the best of those few seconds of attention that your fans will give to your visual content there is one trick that you can use: minimalism. This design principle is all about designing smarter, achieving more with less and stripping away all unnecessary information and layers until you reach the perfect amount of everything. If this is something your visual content needs check out our 3 simple tips that will help you master this art of simplicity:

1. Focus on One Thing

Minimalism in design always starts with the selection of best background photo for your post. Not only should your photo always be of high quality, but your image should also have one standout element that will serve as a focal point for your viewers. The shape or color of that object should stand out, like in our example below, and be surrounded with a lot of empty space that will help the image to breathe. At first, such image may look too simple, but once you mix it with your copy and different font styles you will end up with balanced and uncluttered design. 

2. Practice Self-Discipline

With so many great templates, shapes, color and fonts it can be quite difficult to restrain yourself to only few of them. We have tendency to add one thing over another hoping that its complexity will add to the beauty of our post. Sometimes we really do achieve “more with more” but very often we end up with cluttered mess that is hard to read and understand. So next time you start designing ask yourself do you need really 4 different fonts? Are 5 different shades and colors really necessary? Can you tell everything you want without so many lines and shapes? 

Many great and simple designs that we see in our life are not simple because their designers lacked the skill to create more elaborate visuals; they are simple because their designers restrained themselves from doing so. That’s why it’s important that you practice self-discipline in your design. Limit your color palette to two main colors plus one accent. Try to stick to two fonts and never, ever use more than three fonts per post. Think about accomplishing your goal with less and what you will achieve is simplicity.

3. Create Contrast

Another way to, simply but effectively, put your content in the foreground is to create high color contrast between the background and the text. People tend to read faster when there’s higher contrast, so with this trick they will be able to consume more of your content. This will add visual interest, create variety and ensure better readability especially for those that read your content on a small smartphone screens. However, there is such a thing as “too much contrast”, so like we said practice self-discipline and always pay attention not to contrast colors that clash in a way that could be irritating to the eye.

What is simple and effective advice on how to embrace the power of simplicity and simplify the style of your visual content. Hope you will try them out! If you have other tips on how to create minimal but effective design please share them with us in comments below!