16 Feb Why Is White Space Important in Graphic Design?
Many companies ask why white space is important to graphic design. If you’re not familiar with marketing, it may feel as though you’re underutilizing available space when you leave it blank. However, it serves several functions when establishing your unique identity as a business. The digital specialists at Mousegraphics understand the importance of this design technique in advertising—here’s how it can help enhance your next marketing campaign.
What Is White Space in Graphic Design?
Also known as negative space, white space is the unmarked space between the layouts, lines, paragraphs, and images. It may be any color, texture, or pattern, as long as it does not detract from its main purpose of neatly introducing visual breaks in a piece.
It’s often best to keep negative space empty because less is more when it comes to graphic design. This is especially true for smaller businesses aiming for a consistent, focused visual design campaign that appeals to their audience.
Designers generally break negative space into two subsets: micro and macro white space. Micro white space defines the black area left between lines of text, paragraphs, and listed items. On the other hand, macro white space focuses on the piece’s layout and area between the major elements, sections, and images.
White Space Improves Readability
The visual breaks introduced by micro and macro make it easier for your customers to understand your services. A study performed at Wichita State University found that the presence of margins and wider optimal leading—the space between adjacent lines of text—improved comprehension of the provided reading material and ease of reading.
Micro white space allows readers to distinguish each line and digest and interpret the provided information line by line. Practical use of macro white space will emphasize the vital aspects of your services. When designing advertisements as a whole, vary the sizes of text and images appropriately. Size can establish key relationships between pieces of information without the need for additional text to explain the connections.
Negative Space Distinguishes Your Brand
Negative space can be a crucial design element for boosting brand awareness, especially in print advertising. You can use it in many different ways to cultivate specific impressions of your professionalism, expertise, and uniqueness.
Negative space can also help you incorporate the principles of color theory. Intentional, consistent use of color helps build brand recognition. Clients will automatically internalize and identify brands by certain colors. The negative space is the perfect place to incorporate any secondary colors.
Use Graphic Design More Effectively in Your Prints
If you’ve created a design that uses negative space creatively and need to make sure it’s printed perfectly, we’ve got you covered. Our digital print specialists at Mousegraphics have helped Tempe customers print high-quality advertisements utilizing their outstanding designs for over 30 years. For an experienced partner who can help make your perfect designs pop off the page, contact us today at (480) 470-7438.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (6/17/2022). Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash