The Cultural Tutor Profile picture
Jun 18, 2022 17 tweets 7 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
The Danger of Minimalist Design

(& the death of detail)

A short thread...
Image
Image
This isn't an attack on capital M Minimalism, which is a conscious design movement.

Like the Minimalist music of the composer Philip Glass, which is frankly beautiful.
What I'm talking about is unconscious, small m minimalism.

Which has become the social default for seemingly every design choice, whether architectural or corporate or anything else.

It is a troubling phenomenon because of what minimalism represents: a lack of detail. ImageImage
Why does detail matter? Think of it as identity.

What gives the phone box on the left its distinctive character?

The details: colour, mouldings around the door, the ornamentation at the top.

The phone box on the right has no real detail, and no character. ImageImage
I'm not necessarily talking about beauty here.

I'm just talking about things having some discernible qualities & characteristics.

The bollard on the left is hardly "beautiful," but it *does* have some character.

The one on the right... it exists. That's all. ImageImage
Even benches have been minimalized! ImageImage
And doorbells too!

You would remember the one on the left. It adds charm & character to its location.

The one on the right... you wouldn't even notice it. ImageImage
How many large corporations have rebranded towards far more simplified logos?

This is a notorious recent example. Image
The thing with detail (and, therefore, identity) is that people have different tastes.

So, to some extent, it imposes something on a person.

Default minimalist designs strips all identity away from things.

It presents a neutral, clean-slate which imposes nothing.
So when small m minimalism has become the social default for everything from benches & bollards to skyscrapers & national assemblies....

We have a reduction ad absurdum of cultural aesthetics:

Somebody might not like a detail (read: character) so there can be no details. ImageImage
It is an IKEA Bookcase world.

(Nothing wrong with IKEA Bookcases necessarily, but when everything looks like one, well...) ImageImage
Please remember that I am not talking about a conscious minimalism here.

If you like to decorate your room in a minimalist fashion, that *isn't* a problem. It's none of mine or anybody else's business.

The problem is this social drift towards absolute simplification...
The worst crime of minimalist design is how it has stripped all colour away from things. ImageImage
Perhaps minimalist design is so prevalent because we no longer have anything to say.

You don't need me to explain what the Gothic cathedral says, for example.

But the skyscraper? It doesn't say anything, really. It's just... *there*. ImageImage
And suddenly everything, everywhere starts to look the same.

Absolute neutrality. No detail. No identity.

What does that say about us? Image
Anyway, I'm off to sit in the garden & listen to Bedřich Smetana's Má Vlast...
I'm enjoying the discussion this thread has generated so far!

And if you found it thought-provoking you may also like my free weekly newsletter, Areopagus.

Seven short lessons every Friday, including architecture, classical music, & art.

getrevue.co/profile/cultur…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Cultural Tutor

The Cultural Tutor Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @culturaltutor

Dec 8
A Brief Guide to Georgian Architecture:

(& why it might be the future of modern housing) Image
When you think of "Georgian Architecture" you probably picture something like this: Park Crescent in London, designed by John Nash in 1812.

But what is Georgian Architecture? Where did it come from? Why is it even called that? And is it still relevant? Image
Its name comes from the fact that this style was popular in Britain during the Georgian Era — the consecutive reigns of kings George I, George II, George III, and George IV, from 1714 to 1830.

But Georgian Architecture both predates and outlived that era. Image
Read 22 tweets
Dec 7
A Brief Introduction to Gianlorenzo Bernini: The Vision of Constantine (1670)
Gianlorenzo Bernini was born in Naples in 1598. His father Pietro was a successful sculptor and he taught his son everything he knew.

They moved to Rome in 1606 when Pietro was commissioned to decorate a church there, and Gianlorenzo's education continued...
In Rome, under the careful tutelage of his father and later working alongside him, Bernini blossomed into a prodigiously talented artist.

He made this statue when he was only 17; no wonder Pope Paul V said "this child will be the Michelangelo of his age." A Faun Teased by Children (1616)
Read 23 tweets
Dec 5
7 Ways To Improve Architecture: St Mark's Basilica, Venice
In 1849 an artist and writer called John Ruskin wrote something called "The Seven Lamps of Architecture".

It was an immediate best-seller and, in some ways, changed the course of 19th century art and design.

Ruskin became one of the leading public thinkers of the Victorian Era. John Ruskin by John Everett Millais (1853)
Why did he write about seven "lamps" instead of rules? Because lamps *guide*, whereas rules *dictate*.

Ruskin preferred principles that could be understood and lived by, rather than strict laws to be blindly followed.

And this is what they were...
Read 24 tweets
Dec 3
"Decem" means 10 in Latin, so why is December the 12th month of the year?

Well, the story begins nearly three thousand years ago with Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome... The Apotheosis of Romulus by Mariano Rossi at the Villa Borghese (1775-1779)
Romulus was the mythical founder of Rome, supposedly descended from Aeneas, who had fled from Troy centuries before.

He and his twin brother Remus were raised by a wolf and, eventually, they fought over the founding of their new city.

Romulus killed Remus; Rome was born. Romulus' Victory Over Acron by JAD Ingres (1811)
Legend says that, among other things, Romulus gave the Romans their first ever calendar. It had ten months, each of 30 or 31 days, and began in March.

These were the names of those months: Image
Read 18 tweets
Dec 2
A brief introduction to Albert Bierstadt, one of the greatest landscape painters who ever lived... Image
Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was born in Germany but moved to Massachusetts with his family before his second birthday.

As a young boy Bierstadt started to paint. He returned to Europe — Düsseldorf — to train, and there turned his hand to landscapes. Westphalian Mill (1855)
When Bierstadt returned to America, already a mature landscape artist, he joined the Hudson River School.

This was a group of American landscape painters under the tutelage of Thomas Cole, an Englishman who had moved to New York and fallen in love with its natural beauty. The Oxbox at the Connecticut River near Northampton by Thomas Cole (1836)
Read 25 tweets
Dec 1
December In Art:

1. The Magpie by Claude Monet (1869) Image
2. Massacre of the Innocents by Pieter Breughel the Elder (1565)

A familiar scene from the Bible that took place in Bethlehem recast in a snowy Flemish village.

Brueghel brings the New Testament to life for the people of his homeland. Anachronistic but captivating. Image
3. Deep Snow by Hans Baluschek (1918)

Winter in the modern world. Far from the pastoral scenes of Brueghel's time, Baluschek painted in the age of factories and machines.

An ethereal industrial city, almost dreamlike, bathed in a dark and mysterious atmosphere. Image
Read 18 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(