how to use White Space

The client asks you to “fill in that space” with a bigger headline. Critical defense of your use of white space will be one of the regular conversations you have as a designer. White space, also known as negative space, can be compared to the empty space on a living room wall or even an open field in a city park. Without these open areas life feels oppresive or cluttered. Use white space to allow the viewer's eye to rest or create tension between elements.

Use white space to create dynamic solutions.
Twentieth century artists and designers revolutionized our visual environment with asymmetry. Centered designs with equal amounts of white space surrounding your text and image elements rarely capture a viewer’s eye. Consider these examples:

- Paul Rand’s Art Institute of Chicago catalogue cover
- Gustavs Klucis’s posters
- Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting
- Alexy Brodovitch's magazine layouts

Keep Text Cells or Columns Small
We've all come across Web sites that have text stretching across the entire length of the browser. While that might be readable on a small monitor, it's very difficult to read on a when the browser window is maximized on a large monitor. The alphabet-and-a-half rule is a handy way to make sure you are creating legible line lengths.

Avoid Trapped White Space
White space allows the viewer’s eye to rest so don’t give them an uncomfortable space to rest in. White space trapped inside a design will stop the flow of the design and feel awkward or static. Reposition or resize elements to rework the negative space. A simple exercise to learn about white space: Print out a design that you are stuck on. Cut the elements apart and play around. Consider asymmetry, scale, and contrast when rearranging.

Identifying Rivers
Beginners should take this quick exercise in identifying rivers. Take a freebie magazine you might find in the coffee shop. Turn the page upside down and let your eye wander through the columns of text. By turning the page upside down your eye will view the letters as abstract forms not as words. A long white area that forms between rows of text is a river. Look closely at the design and evaluate what you would do to fix it. Change the font size? Adjust kerning? Edit the text?

Avoid Rivers
A river is the trapped white space in the middle of a text column between words.
This happens most often when type is set justified as the words are pushed or pulled to fill the column width. Work closely with the editor to change the words as needed and then finesse the letter spacing. Rivers may be a symptom that your line length is too long or too short for the size of text you are using.

By: Mary Beth & Paul Trautwein / www.graphicdesign.about.com