We’ve all heard the saying “less is more.” And you’ve probably even noticed that minimalism is becoming all the rage in many facets of everyday life. There is quite a bit of merit to these concepts when it comes to design, whether it be for print or web/social media. While we’re printers, we may or may not be slightly obsessive about trying to strike the perfect balance of content and white space on our Instagram grid. Let’s just say it’s a work in progress…
So what is white space? White space, in art and design, is the unused space around your critical subject matter, such as your logo and slogan, headings and body copy, photos/graphics and any other key element(s).
White space doesn’t have to be white per se, but is made up of any negative space left on your canvas. It can be a color, pattern, or texture, and could possibly even be a background image if it’s subtle enough and won’t distract from the key content you’re trying to convey.
White space serves many purposes. Not only is it a conduit to provide balance in your design, but it also allows breathing room, denotes hierarchy, directs your viewer’s focus and improves readability. It can also be an aesthetic choice, bringing power in it’s simplicity.
Balance
Striking a just right balance between critical content and white space is an art in and of itself. Most designers will relish this challenge and strive for the perfect balance, while clients may want to err on the side of more content. You don’t want to crowd the page with too much content, as that can run the risk of cluttering your design and making it difficult to read, but you also don’t want it to be too sparse either. It’s a fine line.
Breathing Room
White space between elements allows your viewer’s eye to take a break, absorbing the last piece of content before moving on to the next. The space doesn’t have to be expansive, but enough so that the viewer isn’t bombarded and overwhelmed with too much information all at once.
Focus
Surrounding important facets of your design with white space draws focus to them by the very nature of their singularity. Your product in the center of the page, with nothing else or very limited content around it, brings all attention to what you have to offer. Think of Apple ads or packaging. Yea, it’s like that.
Hierarchy
By padding elements with white space a natural hierarchy is formed. A heading at the top of the page is clearly king, a subheading with a buffer before the body copy is next important for the reader to consume. And so forth.
Readability
The micro/passive white space that lives between letters, words and lines of type is also critical to the success of your design. The perfect amount of white space makes reading more enjoyable. Your viewer may not even notice these empty spaces (they probably won’t, unless they’re too abundant), but their eyes will thank you.
Aesthetics
While all of these benefits of white space have merit on their own, you may just want to utilize it in your design for aesthetic purposes. Some find simple layouts with abundant white space to be more elegant or expensive-looking. Again, think Apple or other high end brands that employ this technique. Do you agree?
You may or may not want that much of a minimalist design. And whether you want it or not, sometimes it just doesn’t work in every situation. Most likely you can’t afford to have one element on the middle of a page. You have to make the most of your limited real estate. Striking a balance between key content and white space will benefit you, your design and your viewer. You’ll bring focus where you want through simplicity rather than scale, and hierarchy without having to rely on using bigger or bolder type. You’ll create breathing room and improve readability. It sounds like a win-win-win-win to us.
How do you employ white space in your designs?
Photo by Anna Nekrashevich from Pexels