Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. - Leo Tolstoy

Ever since the spread of minimalism design, most websites on the internet look very much similar. Similar flat design aesthetics. Similar layout structure. Similar sans-serif font.

From Chaos to Order

Back in the old days of the early internet, websites look wildly different. They are full of creativity, but also full of chaos.

As the internet matured, the focus shifted from creativity and personality to usability and standardization. Standardization means order, and order means reducing entropy - the very same concept of randomness and variations.

As designers, we’ve made numerous efforts to reduce design entropy: we created design systems and established design principles. While using standard components from the design system and following uniform principles, less thought and energy are needed to produce the design, and it also takes less energy to develop and maintain the application.

For users, standardized websites reduce distraction. They now focus more on the actual content and functionality, instead of the design or aesthetic of the website itself. Those nearly “invisible” user interfaces also reduce entropy for the users.

Energy saved. Entropy reduced. The digital world is gravitating more towards order and away from chaos.

Our Human Nature

The trend of minimalist design might just be our human nature. As humans, we have the intrinsic desire to impose order on the chaos that surrounds us. We try to clean up our homes, structure our thoughts, and, of course, organize our digital landscapes.

In the end, in this increasingly chaotic world, we as humans, are always trying our best to impose order and reduce as much entropy as we possibly could.