Why is White Space Important?

What is white space and why to use it?
White space, also called ‘Negative space’, is an active design element. This is part of the design which is left unmarked, e.g. margins, space between columns, lines of type or images. We use it to bring more attention to different elements of the design, to make readability easier and more effective and to set the tone of voice of the product (pure aesthetics).
“White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background.” — Jan Tschichold
How does it work?
As I mentioned before ‘negative space’ is an active design element on your pasteboard. One of the purposes is to bring more attention to required part of a website, e.g. if you want you the user to press a button, make sure there is a plenty of space around it, don’t hide it among masses of text boxes, advertising slogans, etc. You have to remember that nowadays our attention span is super short, we lead very busy lives and have very little time. Most of us scan through pages and only interact with the content that stands out from the crowd and grabs our attention.
Just how much information we get on our social media channels, it is overcrowded and there is just too much stuff. So don’t make it difficult for your users, make their life simple with easy choices! The more elements there are on the page the fewer chances of finding what they are looking for they have. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Effective and good use of white space in typography can dramatically increase the readability and the grouping of your content. It has been proven that reading on the web is much more difficult to traditional print publication. It is our job to make sure we mimic the experience as close as possible to what our users would find acceptable. Things to consider here is the spacing between the lines and columns, the proximity of headline to the following text, space between the text and accompanying images or other graphical elements. Take a look at the examples below and read the paragraphs. Which one reads better?

Aesthetics plays very important role in design. The brand voice and the target audience determine the feel and the look of the product. The use of whitespace is a crucial design element to be considered when deciding on the business brand and voice. The first touch point consumers will make with the product or service is important so let make sure we leave a great first impression.
Using White space on a macro level can communicate simplicity, elegance or even luxury. You can see it on advertising materials of brands like OnePlus, etc. They leave plenty of uncluttered space around the elements with a very minimalistic approach. This approach not only helps users to focus on the message but also conveys the elegance and the luxury of the product being advertised.

If a main purpose of the website is to provide information we would focus on the use of micro-level whitespace, e.g. line spacing, columns, and paragraphs, etc., We can visually put different elements on a website into groups which will help user in scanning and searching for the piece of content they are interested in.

The takeaway.
Do not be afraid on white space, embrace it and use it effectively. Empty space is not a wasted space. IT HAS A PURPOSE! You will not gain anything by cramming more information into “available” estate. It has been proven to work for others, just look at Apple website or google.com… do I have to add more? Just to finish the article, one of my favourite design quotes:
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint Exupéry
