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One of the hardest design principles that a graphic designer can convince clients of is that of 'whitespace'. To many, whitespace is empty space; an opportunity foregone that ought to be filled.
However, that ought to not be the case.
Take a flyer, for instance. Too often a client will look to cram in as much information as they possibly can in order to try and avoid missing any details out. But if you think of the eye-catching, memorable flyers you've seen, the ones that strike you have a lot more space and feel more elegant as a result.
Whitespace is the space that remains in between the different aspects of the design and is in all sorts of areas; the width of your line spacing (leading), the margins to the side of a web page, the space between menu items and so forth.
Whitespace enhances legibility. This is something that search engine giants Google are currently implementing across their results pages, as illustrated in the following image comparison.
The current results page in the second image, has little leading and so the information feels very dense and cluttered. Although it's not necessarily something you notice beforehand, when comparing it to the image above it becomes much more recognisable.
The new results page is clearly much more legible and the spacious feeling makes for much more comfortable reading. This is a principle that is often foregone in direct mail advertising, for example, where the aim of the game is, as aforementioned, to cram in as much detail as is possible. However, by creating such illegibility it may have an adverse effect on the reader.
You're also able to get a feel for a particular brand through their use of whitespace. Most of the luxury brands use ample whitespace in their advertising campaigns, heavily focusing on big photography and simple messages to get their point across.
As an example of this, take a look at the Nike advert pictured beneath and the simplicity of the poster.
With the photograph and the colours used key to the overall feel of the poster, having just the solitary line of information creates a confidence and a sophistication in the design that is representative of the brand.
This gives the feeling of a brand that is more upmarket than the advert on the right, for example, where the information is crammed in much more and so has a 'cheaper' feel to it.
Whitespace can also be used to create specific emphasis. One particular example that we like comes from the brilliant 27b/6 and the joke played on a poster for a missing cat.
The whitespace in this poster on the left enables the elements to really stand out and attract the reader's attentions, emphasising what is important without allowing it to become lost amidst other design. To this part, whitespace is not wasted, empty space as aluded to in the beginning, but instead plays an important role in emphasising the purpose of the design.
