Design might be subjective, but there are a few things that are universally popular. Certain colour combinations, images, fonts and typography all have almost universal appeal. One of the most important design elements that most London web designers, actually scratch that, most web designers agree on is the use of whitespace.

Despite being called whitespace, it doesn’t have to be white, it can match the theme of the page, it doesn’t matter.  The name came from the old days of print, so is more a legacy label than a literal one, some designers now refer to it as ‘negative space’

Whitespace is just empty space in a design, somewhere to let the eyes rest, separate page elements and generally make the page appealing and uncluttered.  There is something about whitespace in web design, any design in fact, that makes it look elegant.

The be able to use whitespace, there is a psychological barrier to overcome with the client.  Many clients see white space as wasted space.  Screen and page real estate is a valuable commodity and they don’t want to see it wasted.  That kind of thinking goes back to the days of print, where the page was a finite space and needed to be filled to get the most out of it.  While the same can be said for a web page, whitespace says something else.  Just look at the Apple website to see how whitespace works on a commercial site.

It says the design, the product and the message are important enough to sacrifice the rest of the page for it.  That the concept is too important to compromise by adding other design elements.  That the product or message is so important that nothing else matters.

It also separates paragraphs or blocks of content so they stand out from one another and appear distinct.  When used correctly, whitespace is a great way of separating subjects, paragraphs and sections of copy without using headings or other indicators.  It allows web designers to keep the design simple and sophisticated without having to clutter the page with web standard indicators.  We can produce a page that has the message, a title, navigation and let the rest take care of itself.

Visually is also allows the design, the typography and the copy to speak for itself.  It also adds to usability, there is no cluttered interface or navigation, no confusion over links and content.  No overcrowding of elements, advertising or anything else that detracts from the sole purpose of the page.  To sell, communicate or engage.

There is no hard and fast rule about how much whitespace to use, it’s a judgement call.  The best way of using it differs from project to project.  Unfortunately it’s one of those things that needs experience to be able to gauge properly.  Experimentation is the next best way of deciding the amount to use in any given situation.

No related posts.