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+ 28/07/23 - 27/07/23 - 26/07/23 - 25/07/23 - (POST) Minimal Design
+ sf.cu > Blog > Minimal Design
+
5 min
+
+ Introduction Focusing On The Requirements Timelessness Elegance/a> Consistency Breathing Space Harmony Maintainence Conclusion
+
+People often ask me why I choose minimal design for brands. This is because it has numerous practical advantages that provide ease and consistency in a brand.
+One of the main aspects of minimal design is that it focuses on only the required elements of a specific brand. As a result, design becomes distractionless. This is especially easy nowadays since almost no one cares about the meaning behind a logo except in rare cases.
+Another advantage of this type of design is that it focuses on the core message, or in this case, brand type. Too much designing can confuse viewers on whether a brand is a playful brand or a luxury brand, for example.
+Minimal design, especially in the realm of branding, makes a brand feel timeless. You could take almost any minimal design from 200 years ago and use it for your brand today if there were no limits on copying. On the other hand, a sophisticated design from even 50 years ago will look dated most of the time.
+This works because the elements that cause a brand to look dated are reduced to an absolute minimum. With minimal design, you have as little correlation with time as possible in your brands.
+Minimal design when performed properly can make any brand look elegant. This is due to their simple nature. Look at most luxury brands, and you will notice that their designs are all simple.
+Minimal designs are also consistent. This makes it easy to make a strong and impactful brand that reminds viewers of you. This can also be achieved through other types of design, but it is more powerful on average with minimal design.
+Such types of consistency also provide versatility. You can place your brand design in any context, screen size, device and media type while also maintaining a strong brand presence.
+Many designs nowadays are complicated and provide barely any breathing space for your eyes. With minimal designs, however, you can rest easy. Your eyes will not be overwhelmed by minimal design as much as complicated designs.
+This is useful on informational posts or flyers. It allows your users to process information clearly without any clutter.
+Minimal designs often make use of negative space or whitespace to make a design look appealing. This can look spectacular if executed correctly.
+Minimal brand designs can be easily maintained and modified. This makes them versatile in terms of rebranding.
+Minimal designs are preferred because:
+
+They focus on the requirements
+They are timeless and elegant
+They stay consistent
+They give your eyes breathing space
+They use harmony in a positive way
+They are easier to maintain
+
+These are the main reasons I do minimal design.
+ >>> Reply To Me
+
+ Sufyaan's Posts
Blog posts on Sufyaan's website
+-
+
Minimal Design
+ https://www.sufyaan.cyou/minimal-design/
+ Thu, 28 Jul 2023 21:30:00 GMT
+ Introduction
+ People often ask me why I choose minimal design for brands. This is because it has numerous practical advantages that provide ease and consistency in a brand.
+Focusing On The Requirements
+One of the main aspects of minimal design is that it focuses on only the required elements of a specific brand. As a result, design becomes distractionless. This is especially easy nowadays since almost no one cares about the meaning behind a logo except in rare cases.
+Another advantage of this type of design is that it focuses on the core message, or in this case, brand type. Too much designing can confuse viewers on whether a brand is a playful brand or a luxury brand, for example.
+Timelessness
+Minimal design, especially in the realm of branding, makes a brand feel timeless. You could take almost any minimal design from 200 years ago and use it for your brand today if there were no limits on copying. On the other hand, a sophisticated design from even 50 years ago will look dated most of the time.
+This works because the elements that cause a brand to look dated are reduced to an absolute minimum. With minimal design, you have as little correlation with time as possible in your brands.
+Elegance
+Minimal design when performed properly can make any brand look elegant. This is due to their simple nature. Look at most luxury brands, and you will notice that their designs are all simple.
+Consistency
+Minimal designs are also consistent. This makes it easy to make a strong and impactful brand that reminds viewers of you. This can also be achieved through other types of design, but it is more powerful on average with minimal design.
+Such types of consistency also provide versatility. You can place your brand design in any context, screen size, device and media type while also maintaining a strong brand presence.
+Breathing Space
+Many designs nowadays are complicated and provide barely any breathing space for your eyes. With minimal designs, however, you can rest easy. Your eyes will not be overwhelmed by minimal design as much as complicated designs.
+This is useful on informational posts or flyers. It allows your users to process information clearly without any clutter.
+Harmony
+Minimal designs often make use of negative space or whitespace to make a design look appealing. This can look spectacular if executed correctly.
+Maintainence
+Minimal brand designs can be easily maintained and modified. This makes them versatile in terms of rebranding.
+Conclusion
+Minimal designs are preferred because:
+
+They focus on the requirements
+They are timeless and elegant
+They stay consistent
+They give your eyes breathing space
+They use harmony in a positive way
+They are easier to maintain
+
+These are the main reasons I do minimal design.
-
Taking Proper Backups
Losing precious memories hurts. Backups prevent this gut-wrenching scenario from ever occurring. With many spectacular backup solutions being free or cheap, there is absolutely no reason to take backups. If you work with new computers and devices regularly, then taking backups makes it easy to migrate and install multiple instances on new devices. This is especially easy with Linux systems due to the simple dotfile method. It also provides version control. If you have old versions of documents and files, it is easy to refer to previous examples for future work.
If there is one thing that people love about backups, it is the peace of mind you get knowing that you have an extremely low chance of losing your important data.
It does not matter if you are a normal person or a massive business; you should spend time and money to back up your data properly.
-3-2-1 Backup Rule
The 3-2-1 backup rule is a rule that many people recommend following to remember to take proper backups. Here is the meaning of each of the numbers:
Three Copies : The "3" in the rule means that you should at least three copies of your data. This includes your original data, so you should have at least your original data along with two other copies. The advantage of having these many copies is that it is the perfect balance of simplicity and redundancy.One Off-site Copy : The "1" in the rule means that you should have at least one off-site copy. Off-site in this case means somewhere other than your main home or regular backup methods. This can be an encrypted external hard drive that you leave at your relative's house, for example.
It is important to note that these rules are not a plan for everyone, and are instead meant as a base for your backup plans. The least important data that you own should at least be backed up using the base 3-2-1 backup plan.
-Using Invasive Services (Drive, OneDrive, iCloud)
When it comes to using Big Tech's invasive services, you have to be extremely careful since they do not respect your privacy at all. At the bare minimum, you should be encrypting the files you upload if they are even of a little importance to you.
A popular program for file and drive encryption is VeraCrypt. To learn how to use it in detail, watch this video . The overall process goes like this:
@@ -34,20 +71,20 @@
Upload it wherever you want
This makes it difficult to easily access your files from your phone or another device, but it is totally worth it for your privacy.
-Using Paid Services (Backblaze, Mega)
Services like Mega allow you to pay for more storage, just like Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox. There are privacy concerns with the latter three, however. ProtonDrive is also a good option, but it has had some controversy due to the privacy concerns of ProtonMail . However, I am comfortable recommending it.
BackBlaze is a backup program that is under the MIT licence . It works really well for most of their customers, so I am comfortable recommending it.
-Using Owned Services (servers, syncing)
When you are using services you own, you have to make sure that you verify the integrity of your files. File corruption can happen on every platform, but it is much better to verify your files on your server since there may be issues with your setup that causes file corruption.
It is also important to keep a separate drive or storage medium on your services if possible. If anything happens to your main system, it becomes really easy to just wipe the system and install a new one, knowing that your data is safe.
You can also use sync services like Syncthing for small files that you need synced within all of your devices. I use it to sync my password manager and personal notes. It is encrypted and open-source software and works extremely fast. It is so fast that by the time I save a file and open my phone, the file is already updated. This prevents conflicts.
-Taking Offline Backups
If you are taking offline backups, you should be careful with encrypting your data if you need it. You should first assess whether you need encryption or not. If you live in an area with a lot of robberies, encrypt it, as a robber who is smart enough may steal your drive.
Make sure to get an external hard drive or SSD from a reputable company like Western Digital or Samsung .
By buying a product from a reputable company, you get a reliable product that lasts a long time.
-Maintaining Backups
While it is important to back up your data, it is also important to maintain your backups. At the end of every month, check your backups to see if your files are still intact. If a specific backup medium keeps showing corruption in files, move it to another drive immediately, since they can fail at any time.
-Conclusion
While it is important to take backups, it is also important to make sure you are taking them properly. Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule. If you are using invasive services, encrypt all of your files before uploading them using a trusted piece of software like VeraCrypt.
Try to use services that you own as much as possible, to be completely independent. Make sure to have offline backups.
>>> Reply To Me
@@ -58,10 +95,10 @@
https://www.sufyaan.cyou/plaintext/
Wed, 26 Jul 2023 10:30:00 GMT
I have recently been using VimWiki to take all of my notes instead of Joplin, and it has been working really well. It has its own Markdown (.md) format, but I use regular Markdown (.md) with it. I use Syncthing to sync all my notes to all of my devices. There is barely any delay, so there are never any conflict issues.
- What Is VimWiki?
VimWiki is a plugin for Vim or Neovim that allows you to create a personal wiki. On this wiki, you can add anything you want. It is essentially Obsidian but more minimal and scriptable.
Since it runs in Vim or Neovim, it is extremely fast, lightweight and has barely any bloat. It runs blazingly fast even on old devices. The capability is also extremely high, since you can edit files at light speed when you learn Vim or Neovim properly.
- How Is It Useful?
Using VimWiki, it is trivial to organise notes, ideas, diaries, to-do lists or even future plans. It supports tables, links and much more. There is even an option to export your Markdown (.md) files to HTML, which allows you to create webpages quickly.
It allows you to do everything regular Markdown (.md) can do and more. For example, you can have checklists with progress on them, like this;
[ ] --> 0% complete
@@ -70,10 +107,10 @@
[O]--> 66% - 99% complete
[X]--> 100% complete
You can even have pre-formatted text. This makes it useful to add and explain code.
- How Do You Use It?
On my computers, I use Neovim to use VimWiki. When it comes to my phone, I use the Markor app, which is a Markdown (.md) viewer. It is not the best experience on mobile, but I am willing to give that up for an amazing experience on my computers, since I use and note down things on my computer more.
The reason I am using VimWiki now is mainly to stay in line with me preferring plaintext to proprietary note apps or formats. As I mentioned in my last post, I try to use as much plaintext as possible to prevent distractions and have easy access to my notes wherever and whenever I want to.
- Conclusion
To conclude, I switched to VimWiki because I find it faster and easier to use Neovim directly on my computer. I love using Markdown (.md) , so I feel at home when using VimWiki. It is also because I prefer to use plaintext as much as possible.
>>> Reply To Me
@@ -446,7 +483,7 @@
https://www.sufyaan.cyou/sm/
Thu, 20 Apr 2023 08:30:00 GMT
-I know how you felt reading the title. If you are a heavy social media user, you probably said:
"What? Who in their right mind would delete their social media accounts? How are they supposed to live life and talk to their friends?"
Don't worry. That was me last year. I understand your feelings. However, the disadvantages of social media and the perks of deleting it far outweigh its benefits. In this post, I will go over the reasons why you should delete all of your social media.
A study counted 5 billion internet users and it was concluded that, on average, an internet user spends 6 hours and 53 minutes online per day. 6. HOURS. AND. 53. MINUTES. That is almost a whole third of people's daily lives. Another study concluded that people spend more time on social media in their whole lifetime than grooming, socialising (social media !=socialising) and doing the laundry combined.
It is not as if any of the time spent is valuable. Sure, you may learn one or two 'fun facts, which will make you think that you need social media. You may talk with your friends a lot, which will make you think that your account is required to socialise with people. However, these are all nonsensical excuses that your brain makes to justify getting cheap dopamine. Imagine how much work you can get done, how many actual connections you can make with people, and how many good habits can be formed that will make you happier in the long term than social media.
Whenever people hear that social media affects your mental health, they agree but say that it does not affect them specifically. The most common argument I hear is:
"Yeah, I know that it affects other people. However, I am fine with it. I feel normal and do not feel depressed at all.
All I can say is not to trust what your brain tells you whenever you are dealing with any addiction, not just social media. Think about it. The same brain that is telling you that you should keep using social media for meaningless reasons is the one telling you that it is not affecting you.
Social media is a constant source of comparison. You open it up, view a few triggering posts, find out that your favourite actor has passed away, and see your friends perfect lives. Before closing the app, you apply filters to yourself and edit the picture as much as possible for your stories to make yourself look artificially good.
You see, not only is social media fake, it also has an absurd effect on your mental health. It has been proven that many social media platforms track you to show you personalised content. They use human psychology to hook you onto their platforms.
There are two chemicals in your brain that are responsible for happiness:
Dopamine - released when you are anticipating something good Endorphin - released when you are happy In many cases, the effect of dopamine is much greater than the effect of endorphins. Recall back to a young age when you realised you were about to receive a toy that you had been waiting for for a few days. The feeling you got when you realised you would get it soon was more intense than the actual feeling of getting the toy.
The same trick applies on social media. Many social media platforms show you content that is completely different from the content that you like just before showing you content that you really like. This results in more dopamine being released, with a good amount of endorphin being released as well. To your brain, it has just achieved something great when, in reality, you have not.
Constantly high dopamine and endorphin releases raise your base happiness levels. This is why things that you used to love now seem boring to you. It is not 'growing up'. It is your social media addiction.
Social media metrics also contribute to this. It makes you think that likes and comments are proportional to your worth, which is simply not the case. When you get a like, it is a form of validation that you are valuable to someone. Someone not liking your post does not mean that you are not valuable.
FOMO (fear of missing out) plays a big role as well. The phrase:
"If everyone is using [insert anything here], why shouldn't I?"
is commonly said by an individual who experiences FOMO without the thing in question. There is a constant fear of missing out on information, which simply will not happen. You may miss some arbitrary information that you would not care about otherwise, but this is not a reason at all to continue using social media.
To hook you into their addiction, social media companies hire "attention designers" who take references and inspiration from casinos to keep you hooked.
Before ending this unexpectedly long section, I would like you to read this quote.
"You're either on, and you're connected and distracted all the time, or you're off, but then you're wondering, Am I missing something important? In other words, you're either distracted or you have a fear of missing out."
Tristan Harris, Former Design Ethicist at Google
Privacy If you post everything you do on social media, there is no longer any privacy. Anything you do is public information. If you have a 'private' account, your friends know everything you do. There is no privacy at all if you keep posting everything on social media.
Then there is the elephant in the room.
+I know how you felt reading the title. If you are a heavy social media user, you probably said:
"What? Who in their right mind would delete their social media accounts? How are they supposed to live life and talk to their friends?"
Don't worry. That was me last year. I understand your feelings. However, the disadvantages of social media and the perks of deleting it far outweigh its benefits. In this post, I will go over the reasons why you should delete all of your social media.
Affects Your Mental Health Whenever people hear that social media affects your mental health, they agree but say that it does not affect them specifically. The most common argument I hear is:
"Yeah, I know that it affects other people. However, I am fine with it. I feel normal and do not feel depressed at all.
All I can say is not to trust what your brain tells you whenever you are dealing with any addiction, not just social media. Think about it. The same brain that is telling you that you should keep using social media for meaningless reasons is the one telling you that it is not affecting you.
Social media is a constant source of comparison. You open it up, view a few triggering posts, find out that your favourite actor has passed away, and see your friends perfect lives. Before closing the app, you apply filters to yourself and edit the picture as much as possible for your stories to make yourself look artificially good.
You see, not only is social media fake, it also has an absurd effect on your mental health. It has been proven that many social media platforms track you to show you personalised content. They use human psychology to hook you onto their platforms.
There are two chemicals in your brain that are responsible for happiness:
Dopamine - released when you are anticipating something good Endorphin - released when you are happy In many cases, the effect of dopamine is much greater than the effect of endorphins. Recall back to a young age when you realised you were about to receive a toy that you had been waiting for for a few days. The feeling you got when you realised you would get it soon was more intense than the actual feeling of getting the toy.
The same trick applies on social media. Many social media platforms show you content that is completely different from the content that you like just before showing you content that you really like. This results in more dopamine being released, with a good amount of endorphin being released as well. To your brain, it has just achieved something great when, in reality, you have not.
Constantly high dopamine and endorphin releases raise your base happiness levels. This is why things that you used to love now seem boring to you. It is not 'growing up'. It is your social media addiction.
Social media metrics also contribute to this. It makes you think that likes and comments are proportional to your worth, which is simply not the case. When you get a like, it is a form of validation that you are valuable to someone. Someone not liking your post does not mean that you are not valuable.
FOMO (fear of missing out) plays a big role as well. The phrase:
"If everyone is using [insert anything here], why shouldn't I?"
is commonly said by an individual who experiences FOMO without the thing in question. There is a constant fear of missing out on information, which simply will not happen. You may miss some arbitrary information that you would not care about otherwise, but this is not a reason at all to continue using social media.
To hook you into their addiction, social media companies hire "attention designers" who take references and inspiration from casinos to keep you hooked.
Before ending this unexpectedly long section, I would like you to read this quote.
"You're either on, and you're connected and distracted all the time, or you're off, but then you're wondering, Am I missing something important? In other words, you're either distracted or you have a fear of missing out."
Tristan Harris, Former Design Ethicist at Google
Privacy If you post everything you do on social media, there is no longer any privacy. Anything you do is public information. If you have a 'private' account, your friends know everything you do. There is no privacy at all if you keep posting everything on social media.
Then there is the elephant in the room.
Digital Privacy.
It is well-known that apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and some Google apps collect your data like their lives depend on it (technically, they do). Everything from your name to your IP address and phone number to even the amount of network requests you make or the model of your phone. Not to mention, literally everything you do on the app. This all goes to their servers and is used for more advertisements.
It is pretty safe to say that your digital footprint, as it is called, can be nearly eliminated by deleting your accounts. There are more steps that you have to take to take care of your privacy, but preventing data collection from big corporations is a huge step.
diff --git a/sitemap/index.html b/sitemap/index.html
index b6624f4..4c2627f 100644
--- a/sitemap/index.html
+++ b/sitemap/index.html
@@ -31,11 +31,13 @@
Linux Software Technology Design Guides Other