Simpler Isn't Always Better
Simplicity is key to great and innovative product design. But simplicity is way often confused with minimalist style . In fact, simple looking, minimal product UIs often carry hidden complexity. Design decisions based on reduction can introduce more cognitive load, leading to a more complex user experience. Icons without text labels are difficult to understand, non-standard gestures provide no obvious affordance, the minimalist hamburger menu was proven many times to perform poorly.
If you're making an app only for other designers, lose the labels. Make it gesture-based. Not a problem if the average person can't figure out how to use it, as long as other designers don't have any trouble. But if you're making an app with the idea that lots of people in the world will use it, consider that being super explicit with labels and text, using tried-and-true interaction patterns, and resorting to familiar iconography is going to make people's lives easier, even if it adds more clutter. Consider that way more people in the world are more offended by not being able to find a feature than by bad kerning. Above all, consider that as much as we want to design something we ourselves love, it's more important whether or not the target audience we’re designing for loves it.
Simplicity is about the lack of complexity. Simple things are straightforward and easily understood. Simplicity is about the experience. Cleanliness is a design aesthetic. Clean designs are often sparse with ample whitespace. Cleanliness is about the look. A good goal for product designers to strive for is requisite complexity, just enough necessary complexity to make something easily understood. As Albert Einstein put it, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."