Design is one of the most important drivers of user engagement. As users’ preferences shift toward a simpler interface, stripping the UI to its very basic, necessary elements is the key to success. Minimalism is a perfect marriage of form and function. It’s greatest strength is clarity of form — clean lines, generous whitespace, and minimal graphical elements brings simplicity to even the most confounding subject matter. That is, of course, if it’s used effectively.
Yahoo! weather app displays a nice photo of each weather location, and the most important data you need is immediately visible while it’s just a single tap to drill down into more detailed data. Rather than cover the photo with another UI layer, the app keeps you in context after you tap — the detailed information is easily revealed and the photo remains in the background. The interaction is so intuitive that it takes nothing more than a second to return to your previous location.
