Minimalism
Minimalist web design has become more common over the last few years. Minimalist web designs include very little, yet take a lot to make. An article by Cameron Chapman over on Hongkiat has some great examples of minimalist web design.
Negative Space
Negative space, discussed here, is everywhere in minimalist designs. The negative space in these designs is often used to guide the reader towards the important content. The home page of Technically Science does this.
Content
Minimalist designs do not work particularly well with websites that have large amounts of content, as they provide very little room for content. The content that is present is usually near the middle of the page, though this is not always the case.
Color Palette
Some people think that minimalist designs are devoid of color. This is not necessarily the case, however. Many minimalist websites have large amounts of color. The minimalist aspect of color comes when selecting how many colors to use: often, minimalist websites only use three or four colors for the entire website. Additionally, these colors are often muted, but there are always exceptions.