It seems that current design trends revolve around the idea that “less is more”, favoring the minimalist approach to UI and UX. While simplicity clearly and efficiently communicates content to users, it also usually doesn’t have a unique flair that showcases personality and distinguishes designs apart from each other. Maximalism, in contrast, embraces bold, vibrant elements—rich in color, pattern, and texture—to create visually diverse experiences.
Though many modern brand designs steer away from this aesthetic to emphasize functionality over visuals, some designs successfully incorporate maximalism to create unique user experiences. However, other designs attempt maximalist approaches in their brand but fail to effectively apply it.
The local Trader Joes on Penn Ave with a mural of the Cathedral of Learning
The Trader Joe's shopping experience fully embraces a maximalist approach, reflected in both its store design and product presentation. As soon as you walk in, you can see its colorful, friendly wall murals that are unique to the neighborhood or city. Their wooden furnishings, like their shelves, and hand-drawn sign displays add to the inviting, community-focused atmosphere, evoking the charm of a farmer’s market. This differs from most average grocery stores that focus on having everything neatly organized and displayed via neutral colored walls, metal furnishing, and simple signs.
A display of Trader Joe’s products https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/our-favorite-things-trader-joes/
Trader Joe’s also does not shy away from mix-matching font styles, patterns, and colors in their product packaging. All their products showcase unique personalities through their exterior design, which makes them easy to identify and draws customers’ attention.
While the store carries fewer items than the average grocery store, every product is designed to stand out as a unique character among all the other ones on the shelf. Trader Joe’s creates limited types of products but makes each of them visually different, which only strengthens the maximalist idea of embracing diversity. This approach to maximalism also eases the burdens of consumers’ decision-making process, reducing choice overload, a prevalent problem in modern day shopping experiences due to the vast number of options available to consumers.
Magic Spoon exemplifies how brands can struggle to effectively implement maximalism in their product design. Their brightly colored, cartoonish cereal boxes seem to incorporate the core elements of the maximalist aesthetic, yet they lack a distinct personality that compels consumers to purchase them. Why?
A variety of Magic Spoon Cereal https://magicspoon.com/products/variety-pack-cereal-case
One key issue is the art style. While the illustrations are vibrant and playful, they follow the Corporate Memphis art trend—a popular style used by corporate workplaces. Although this style uses bold colors, it is simplistic and geometric, which makes it feel generic and lacking real personality.
In addition to the art style, the illustrations on the boxes do not convey a characterizing message about the company or distinguish a unique element about its cereal that set it apart from other cereal brands. Childhood classics like Froot Loops, Lucky Charms, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch have successfully built their identities through iconic mascots and distinctive elements in the cereal itself. In contrast, Magic Spoon's packaging lacks a cohesive brand identity across its flavors, relying solely on labels and a uniform art style rather than offering a clear narrative for the product.
As a result, while Magic Spoon attempts to use maximalism to create eye-catching packaging, it fails to deliver a clear message and relatable personality needed to garner consumers’ interest. The lack of distinct storytelling or meaningful branding prevents it from actually making it to the shopping cart and leaves potential buyers with little reason to feel connected to the product or compelled to choose it over more established competitors. Effective maximalism is about more than just bold visuals—it's about creating a cohesive, memorable brand experience, something Magic Spoon has yet to fully achieve.