…in the late 20th century, minimalism began to take shape as a separate trend within the field of human–computer interaction.
In 1983, data-visualization expert Edward Tufte introduced the concept of a data–ink ratio in his work, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. In print media, the data–ink ratio is the ratio between (1) the amount of ink that communicates information, and (2) all the ink used to print the graphic. Tufte advocated maximizing this data–ink ratio by removing any elements that do not reasonably contribute new information.
Data–Ink Ratio = Informative Ink / Total Ink