With a shopping cart in hand, a courageous consumer begins her march down the snack aisle of her local shopping mart. Perusing the shelves, she becomes overwhelmed; the products blur together into an intimidating wall of saturated fat. Her eyes are accosted by package after package of twists and curls, each designed more garishly than the next all to ensure that their product will be selected. How does our brave shopper choose in the face of such chaos and clutter? Which would you choose? Then a moment of enlightenment arrives. A package grabs her attention. It’s different from the rest. She slips it into her cart. What gives? Mr. Twist asks Mr. Curl. Simplicity may have played a role—the basic idea that less is more. This intriguing concept has always been an important design element but has recently become more sought after.

Exactly when did design elements start getting so out of hand? As companies try to stand out with flashier designs, essential elements begin to get lost. Dieter Rams, a famous German consumer electronics manufacturer, created the ten rules of design. His basic principles state that good design is innovative, useful, and aesthetic, while helping a product to be understood. Designs should be unobtrusive and honest, durable and consistent to the last detail; they should be environmentally friendly and have as little design as possible. These “commandments” emphasize the importance of understanding how to approach brand creation and design through concepts such as valuing white space and allowing enough “breathing room” for every element on a page. The key is to be constantly asking yourself: Do I really need this?

It’s a question companies are increasingly considering. An exercise was recently performed where a designer reduced the packaging of famous brands to only their bare essentials. For some brands it was beneficial, resulting in a sharper, more attractive design—Red Bull, for instance, boasted a crisp blue and white look when stripped down from its original design—while other brands, like Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, suffered from the reduction, becoming too generic or unrecognizable without their full array of design elements. Taking this query beyond just exercise, Starbucks has recently decided to permanently implement a more simplistic brand logo for their products. The company decided to drop its name from the logo and feature the Starbucks siren on her own. This design change has allowed the Starbucks enterprise to create future brand extensions in addition to the companies they already own such as Tazo Tea, Ethos Water, and Seattle’s Best Coffee.

So the next time you’re perusing an aisle of the grocery store, step back and take notice of what’s really grabbing your attention. Then apply this process to your own brand. If a consumer were walking down an aisle surrounded by your competitors, would they select your brand? Could the messages you are trying to relay to your consumers be better received? Remember to stay true to your brand and what makes you unique, but keep in mind that creating a clean, simple, and minimal design shows your visitors what you have to offer and gets your message across in the most efficient way possible. Less really can be more.

Coca Cola, before and after:

Seattle's Best, before and after:

Post Cereals, before and after:

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