amg's blog

Also referred to as negative space, white space is any area on a document that has been intentionally left unmarked. This could be anything from the space in between lines of text, to the space between graphic elements. It is an important design element that creates balance to the positive space (what you are trying to communicate) in your design. Why is this important to you?

Ad space can be expensive. Everyone knows that. So why not throw as much stuff as you can into your ad, brochure, website, eblast, or whatever it is you’re spending precious advertising dollars on? Makes sense, right? Wrong. It’s becoming harder and harder to get someone’s attention. People want information and they want it fast with minimal effort. The more “stuff” you have, the more your audience has to work to understand your message and engage with you.

So what do you do? Embrace white space. It’s ok to have an area, or multiple areas where you don’t put anything. In fact it’s a fundamental design principle that professional designers use on every project. Don’t think of it as empty or unused. The use of white space places more focus on the active elements (headlines, images, a call to action…etc.). It allows your message to live and breathe within the confines of a set structure. Most importantly, legibility is increased. Your audience has to understand your message before they can engage with you. Make it easy on them.

Still not convinced? See for yourself. One of the companies below uses white space as a primary design element. Which one do you think is more successful?

Click here.
Then click here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2012 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Recent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.