The word 'Minimalism' was first used in the 1960s to describe the American sculptors Donald Judd, Frank Stella and Sol LeWitt — who turned their work into bare metal boxes, in revolt against the still-emotional Abstract Expressionism of the day.

But the idea has two sources: on one side the German Bauhaus 'Less is more' (Mies van der Rohe), on the other Japanese Zen and 'wabi-sabi.' The two merged in 1980s industrial design — Dieter Rams' Braun, Naoto Fukasawa's ±0, Kenya Hara's MUJI.

Later it moved onto screens: Steve Jobs, influenced by Rams, made the iPod and iPhone; the websites of Stripe, Linear and Apple are the contemporary version of these rules. Minimalism's danger is sliding into boredom — it demands that every bit of effort go into layout, rhythm and white space. Nothing can hide.