The best example of this is Google and Apple. Both are minimalist. But Apple (arguably, of course) has a much better sense of design. Reddit is like Google.
and then Harj said this the other day:
If you think about the elevator pitch or even the 5-10 seconds of someone's attention you may get, "the X of Y" is a pretty efficient means of communicating what you do and how you do it.
Sure it can also get overused and there is always the trap of thinking that there has to be an X for every Y ("the Priceline of Dating anyone?").
Does (YC W11 startup) Grubwith.us count? :)
The success and buzz around hipmunk is that they have provided a better way to search for flights. That they've done it with a cute logo and minimalist design is maybe a small part of the success, but their ability to create buzz and to create great products can't be overlooked.
