Minimal Universe

Minimal Universe collect posts from our favorite minimal-related blogs listed on the right.
  • minimalist backup

    Recently some respected bloggers & geeks have written about backing up your computer files … calling for the need to buy extra hard drives by the half dozen (example), regularly schedule backups and off-site transfers and much more.

    This is the old-school computer expert lecture, and if you enjoy doing those kinds of things, that’s cool.

    I actually don’t, and so I don’t do it.

    What do I do instead? Here’s a simpler method:

    Using this method, I’ve never lost an important file.

    There’s an off-chance I might lose a scrap of information, because I’m not as anal about backing up as others. However, I’ve also realized that my data isn’t as important as I once thought, and letting others worry about backing up my files (Google, Zoho, Yahoo, Dropbox, et al) means letting go of control and letting go of those worries.

    Will I lose something someday? Sure, maybe. But will it be the end of the world? No. If it takes 20 minutes to recreate something, that’ll be less than the hours I would have spent cumulatively backing things up or buying hard drives and USB thumb drives and off-line storage. If I lose a dozen photos of thousands I’ve taken, it’s not a big deal.

    I’ve let go of the need to obsess about every bit of data, and with it I’ve dropped the need to obsess about backups.

  • minimalist fun

    On Twitter yesterday, Brandon asked:

    As a minimalist, what do you do for fun? That’s the only trouble I foresee should I decide to embrace the minimalist ideal.

    This brings up a common myth about minimalism — that we have empty lives, and can’t do anything fun because we try to eschew consumerism and all the spending that entails.

    The purpose of entertainment

    A brief discussion first: what is entertainment, and why do we need it?

    Entertainment is usually meant to distract, to make us feel that our lives are exciting — distractions such as TV, movies, carnivals, going shopping, playing video games, drinking and partying. And while these each have other merits (a good film is a work of art), often they serve to distract us from work or other difficulties.

    Unfortunately, this fun is only temporary, and often empty. And as soon as we’re off that temporary high, we must find a new high from entertainment, ad nauseum.

    I believe if you find contentment, you don’t need entertainment. That’s not to say you’d never watch TV or good films or go to parties or theme parks … but you wouldn’t need them for entertainment. You wouldn’t go shopping to fill an empty space in your life, to fill the need of finding happiness, because you’re already content and don’t have that empty space or need.

    Finding contentment is learning to appreciate what you already have, learning the concept of having enough, learning to enjoy the simple things. It isn’t an overnight thing, but as you become more conscious of it, you’ll find more contentment and need to be entertained less.

    Minimalist fun

    So the question remains: what do I do for fun?

    I’ve made space for what’s most important to me, by eliminating the unnecessary. That’s what minimalism is really about, at its core, not emptying your life.

    What’s important to me: family, writing, reading, running. And so my fun is finding time for those four things.

    Some examples of things I’ve done in the last week for fun:

    • Had a small family get-together for my daughter’s birthday
    • Went on a walking date with my wife, eating near the beach and walking to get coffee & watch a movie
    • Ran three days a week with my sister
    • Worked out with my nephew, doing full-body weight exercises
    • Read with my kids
    • Took short walks with my daughter
    • Read a novel, magazine, online articles
    • Had lunch with my mom & sister
    • Helped my mom in her garden
    • Wrote blog posts and some of my new book
    • Rode my bike to meet a friend for coffee

    Those are just a few examples, but you get the idea. They’re not everyone’s idea of fun, but I enjoy them.

  • Turn off that dock unread count - (37signals)

    Turn off that dock unread count - (37signals):

    Now it’s on you to go check email instead of having that count pushed upon you. A subtle shift, but one that can make a powerful difference.

    What we believe in.

  • Stattoo Homebrew

    Stattoo Homebrew:

    Chris details how he did his own homebrew version of Stattoo using GeekTool, duct tape, and elbow grease. Or something like that…

  • Ikea SIGNUM Cord Management | Apartment Therapy Unplggd

    Ikea SIGNUM Cord Management | Apartment Therapy Unplggd:

    Unplgdd calls attention to some nice cheap cord and cable management solutions that IKEA just rolled out. At prices like this, and with crisp Euro design, there are no more reasons for excuses.

  • Inout

    Bathing has become an entire ‘experience’ over the last few years… It’s refreshing how the designers of the Inout baths, Benedini & Partners, are trying to make it simple again: just get in, wash, get out.

    The designers have taken the design back to the good old round tub, giving it a lovely minimalist feel.

    The Inout baths are manufactured by Agape.




  • June 2009 setup (via mightykenny) I wish I could travel straight...



    June 2009 setup (via mightykenny)

    I wish I could travel straight ahead, through the screen, and into wherever that desktop picture was taken.



  • A Very Slim Table

    This is a table. A Very Slim Table, to be precise.

    Its designer, Nilly Landao from Israel, reduced the table to just a wooden strip. Instead of putting plates on the surface, you attach them to the sides of the strip.

    Hard to imagine? Check out the video on Landao’s website, or click on for stills from that video.







  • It's not a bargain if you don't need it.

    The title is taken from a line my Father said to me once in discussing my Grandmother, who thought anything worth having was worth having five of. I have remembered it ever since. I remember it every time I see a tremendous deal that seems just too good to pass up. A sweater on super cheap clearance (us Minnesotans can never have too many, right?). A printer that is practically free after rebate (I can always give it to someone else as a gift, right?).

    Lately, I remember it anytime I see a super cheap bundle of Mac apps, that grows to even more at download milestones, all for an unbelievably good price. I think to myself, “Wow, that is a really good deal for that one application I want, let alone the ten others. Plus, they are giving five bucks of that price to charity. I can get a deal and be a humanitarian all at the same time. What a bargain!”

    It’s not a bargain if you don’t need it.

    Let’s just say there is one of these bundles – lets just call it MacTheft – and the price for eleven apps is $19.95. And, let’s just say they promise to give $5.00 of your purchase to starving children in cataclysmicly devastated regions of the world. Therefore, the price of the software – all eleven apps – is theoretically $14.95. But, let’s just say there is only two apps out of the eleven that you really think you need. Here is a crazy idea to try…

    Buy the apps outright, full-price, directly from the developer.

    Crazy, right?

    I know, I know. You are not getting a bargain, right? Wrong. Did you need the apps? Then you are getting a bargain. Even better, you are directly supporting the developer and their future development. Not only that but you are also not cluttering up your hard drive with software you will never use. You are not wasting your time and attention on bargains that really aren’t.

    OK, fine. You want a “bargain”. How about this… Contact the developers of the two apps you want and say something like…

    “Hey, I see you have your apps available on MacTheft and, while that is great and all, I really don’t need all eleven of them. I really only need two, your’s and this other guy’s. Therefore, I am contacting each of you to see if I could give you $7.50 cents directly. I figure that is about 10 times more than you will get from my individual sale if I buy it through MacTheft. Also, I was planing on giving five dollars to the starving children too.”

    What’s the worse they can say? No?

    My point is that you owe it to yourself to avoid these bargains and giveaways unless it is stuff you really need and plan on using. If not, you are still wasting your money, your time, and your attention no matter how much you pay. Even if the price is “free”.

  • empower people to create

    We live in a world where we are passive consumers: we see an ad for an iPhone, new car, new clothes; we go to the store or website and buy the item; we use it, and then dispose of it when we’re done.

    What if we could break free from that?

    What if we could become creators, participants, sharers, empowerers?

    An awesome article about three guys who not only build bamboo bicycles, but show people how to make them themselves, really highlights how this can be done.

    These guys are transforming people from passive consumers to creators, builders, knowledgeable users. That’s amazing.

    How can you empower people? How can you turn people from consumers into makers? How can you help people from being passive users to knowledgeable ones?

    Change the world — it’s waiting for you.

  • S&P Dolly

    The S&P Dolly, designed by Ross McBride for design-house Normann Copenhagen, is recently awarded with the prestigious IF Product Design Award 2010.

    The porcelain salt and pepper pot combines ‘humor’ and notable, round feminine, design, adding style to both kitchen and table.

    “I see design as predominantly a problem-solving exercise like a puzzle. Half of the work is defining the problem, and how creative you are with the endeavor affects the quality of the solution. It is this challenge that makes the work enjoyable.”

    McBride graduated in graphic design from the California Institute of Arts in 1985. He moved to Tokyo upon graduation where he has worked ever since, focusing on product and furniture design.



  • "We sometimes underestimate the influence of little things."

    “We sometimes underestimate the influence of little things.”

    - Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Identity Art & Architecture St Luc Institutes Brussels

    Clean, simple and elegant were the first words which came to mind when I saw the identity for the Art & Architecture of the Saint-Luc Institutes in Brussels.

    The consistent use of typography, the amount of white space and the small details are a big inspiration for all minimalistic minded people. You can download a digital version of magazine #11 for some more inspiration.

    The identity for this Bi-annual magazine is designed by the French graphic designer Carine Collin who lives and works in Brussels. She has a good portfolio and her website is also a clean piece of art. I think I am in love!







  • Globus

    No world globe this time but a beautiful, multifunctional, space-saving work station that’s equally at home in a public environment or an office.

    The Globus has a cast aluminium base on wheels supporting a moulded plastic globe with two sections. Once it is opened, the wheels are blocked. One half of the globe is a comfortable seat. The seat’s swivel action makes sitting down and standing up very simple. The other half of the globe hides a small table that can be easily adjusted for height.

    This personal mobile workstation is made by Dutch designer Michiel van der Kley for Gispen and Artifort





  • Loft in Como by Jacopo Mascheroni

    Stairs can speak louder than words about a house‘s style intentions. Something like a grand staircase of marble steps in monumental homes. I am thinking about the exhaustion people feel going down those stairs.

    Modern stairs are less about circulation. They are more about occupying minimal space and becoming abstract objects. Architect Jacopo Mascheroni, designed the loft in Como’s staircase as a great opportunity to make circulation free floating. A feeling of weightlessness with a skin and bone structure of open treads covered in maple wood.

    The loft in Como, Italy is an old monastery put to new use: a dream minimalist loft. Maple hardwood floors with custom floor planks; a video projector that plays images on the kitchen wall, hidden cabinets, open spaces, pure white; did I mention everything was custom designed?

    I oohed and aaahed at the Jacopo Mascheroni project. It comes pretty close to a dream I can aspire to, when I finally get discovered.






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