Take a look at the briefs that have been coming in lately. Almost all of them ask for the same thing: “clean,” “minimalist,” “modern,” “less is more.”

Stack the moodboards from different clients, different industries, different value propositions, side by side, and the results end up looking… similar. Same sans-serif fonts, same neutral palettes, same tidy grid layouts. It’s like seeing Donald Glover and Childish Gambino at the same event.

Nobody’s really at fault here. It’s just proof that one design approach worked so well that everyone ended up adopting it the same way.

Also Read: UI Design History: How We Got to Immersive Experiences

From “Swiss Design” to “Same Design”

The roots of all this trace back to Swiss Design (the International Typographic Style), born in the mid-20th century. Tight grids, sans-serif typography, clear hierarchy, and carefully guarded whitespace.

The goal was noble: get the message across as fast and as clearly as possible, with no noise. From there, modern minimalism was born.

And to be fair, there’s nothing wrong with the principle. Clarity is powerful. But like most things that are powerful, once it becomes everyone’s default, the effect starts to shift.

This isn’t just a graphic design thing. In interior design, people have started calling it the “Sad Beige Era,” where every room, from kids’ bedrooms to living rooms, ends up looking the same: neutral walls, neutral furniture, neutral everything.

It’s not confined to one country either; it’s a global wave. What used to be “minimalist” slowly became a look everyone copies, rather than an approach to living with intention.

The same thing happened in branding. Look at how high-end fashion logos evolved from the 90s to now, or how major brand logos flattened into the same sans-serif shapes within a single decade.

Everything got “cleaner,” but also a lot more predictable. Strip the brand names away, and a lot of these logos could swap places with each other, and nobody would notice.

Minimalism isn’t the problem. Minimalism is used as a template instead of a deliberate choice. That’s what’s making the visual world feel flatter.

So, What Exactly Is Maximalism?

This is where a lot of people start looking in the opposite direction. Not as a trend to chase, but almost as a reaction. If everything looks the same, the way to stand out is to look like nothing else.

That direction is maximalism. Not the Indonesian actor Maxime Bouttier. That’s Luna Maya’s husband.

Maximalism in 17th-19th Centuries

To understand maximalism, it helps to go back a few centuries. The Baroque and Rococo eras (17th and 18th centuries), followed by the Victorian era (19th century), were essentially the golden age of maximalism. Clothing, interiors, furniture, all of it dramatic, ornate, dripping in detail and rich color. And this wasn’t just about taste. It was status.

The more elaborate your home, the more “successful” you were perceived to be. Every carving, every pattern, every gilded edge was a quiet flex, a way of saying “I have the means, and I have the eye.” Maximalism back then wasn’t an aesthetic choice so much as a personal statement, wealth, taste, and identity all rolled into one room.

That’s the core of it, really. Where minimalism operates on “less is more,” maximalism runs on the opposite philosophy: “more is more.” More color, more texture, more layers, more story.

And in modern design, many people are trying to bring that “feeling” back, whether in media, brand personas, campaigns, or product design. But here’s the part people often miss when they try to “go maximalist”: more isn’t an excuse to throw in everything at once.

Maximalism in Modern Interior

Curated Chaos, Not Just Chaos

Now, just imagine the “Nasi Goreng Gila,” from your neighborhood fried rice cart, literally “crazy fried rice.” It’s a dish that is thrown in fried chicken, sausage, fried egg, satay, chicken, crackers, and all the things you probably don’t need to know what they really are, all piled onto one plate.

From a distance, it looks like absolute chaos. But take a bite, and somehow, it works. Every element is still doing its job, and together they create something more satisfying than any single ingredient could on its own.

That’s maximalism done right. Unlike clutter, which is just things piling up without intention, maximalism is curated. Every element earns its place. Nothing is there “just because there’s space for it.”

The difference between “rich and layered” and “visually overwhelming” comes down to one thing: intention. So how do you actually build that?

Maximalism in Modern Digital Design

How to Go Maximalist Without Losing Control

As a designer, here’s how I approach it without letting everything fall apart:

1. Start With One Anchor

Don’t try to fill every inch right away. Pick one strong element first, a bold typeface, a striking texture, a graphic motif with real personality, and let that be your anchor.

Build everything else around it.In branding terms, this might be one distinctive illustration style or a single unconventional color that everything else has to negotiate with.

2. Be Bold With Color and Pattern, But Give Them a Common Thread

Maximalism leans into bright colors and clashing patterns, but “clashing” doesn’t mean random. A useful starting formula: 60% dominant color, 30% secondary, 10% accent.

When combining different patterns, make sure there’s at least one shared color running through all of them; that’s the thread that ties the clash together instead of letting it fall apart.

3. Fill the Space, But Keep the Structure

Where minimalism leans on whitespace, maximalism tends to fill it with ornaments, textures, layered frames, retro or digital details. But “filled” doesn’t mean “structureless.”

There still needs to be an underlying grid or rhythm holding everything in place, even if the viewer never consciously notices it. That’s what keeps fifteen elements from feeling like fifteen separate decisions.

Also Read: The Book That Made Me Rethink Everything About Design

The Real Reason Maximalism Is Coming Back

If you zoom out, the return of maximalism isn’t really about color or pattern at all. It’s a sign that people are tired of sameness, tired of everything looking equally clean, equally neutral, and equally forgettable.

As humans, sometimes we need a bit of “maximalism” in our lives too. Moments where we choose to express what makes us different instead of blending in. The trick is knowing when.

This isn’t about minimalism being bad and maximalism being good, or the other way around. It’s about finding the sweet spot, knowing when complexity adds something real, and when restraint says more. That’s a decision worth making on purpose, in design, and in life.