Broadly speaking, minimalism is any style or technique that is characterized by an extreme reduction to necessities and radical simplification. A minimalist is a person who strives to restrict the means and ends required to achieve a goal to a minimum. Applying minimalist principles to writing can support the key objective of technical communication: to enable users to learn and accomplish as much as possible, on their own, in as short a time as possible.
The following principles are examples of minimalist writing techniques and approaches to minimalist information design.
- Keep sentences simple
- Use parallelism
- Use active voice
- Choose verbs with care
- Negate with purpose
- Organize information logically
- Communicate visually
- Aid navigation
- Be consistent
- Focus on what is important
The list is not exhaustive; these principles are also not appropriate in all contexts. Nevertheless, the following articles give an impression of how minimalist principles can be used to organize and present information succinctly and logically.
