Less is not always easier
Minimal design can improve focus. Fewer colours, clear typography and generous spacing may make a page calmer to read. Problems begin when the cleanup also removes the cues that explain what a user can do.
Nielsen Norman Group describes a familiar weakness of fully flat design: interactive elements can become difficult to distinguish from ordinary text or decoration. The interface looks clean, yet requires more guessing.
A cue has a purpose
An underlined link, a visible button boundary, an arrow or a change on hover and focus is not automatically visual noise. These details communicate that something can be opened or used.
This does not mean that every button must be large and colourful. It means that important actions should be discoverable without prior knowledge of the system. On mobile, hover cannot carry that responsibility because a finger does not hover over the screen.
Digital Catalogue Solution as an example
Digital Catalogue Solution replaces heavy PDFs with searchable product navigation. This kind of interface needs calm presentation and clear direction: categories should be scannable, filters should show their state, and the path to product information should be visible.
The project illustrates the balance. It is not presented as a controlled study of flat design. Measuring an effect would require testing alternative versions with the same tasks.
A quick review
Imagine the page without colour. Can you still distinguish headings, information, links and controls? Try the keyboard: is focus visible? On mobile, are touch targets large enough and understandable without hover?
Good minimalism is not about removing as much as possible. It is about keeping the details that help someone move forward.
