Have you ever seen an empty space on websites? Many elements form the layout and structure of interactive design on a website. Many of the time, some areas were intentionally left untouched or kept as simple as possible. We call that area ‘White Space’. As a leading web design company in Bangkok, we love to provide you with a deeper detail on this topic.
WHAT IS WHITE SPACE?
White space, or negative space, is the space found inside and surrounding the other design elements. White space can be compared to a canvas. It serves as the background that holds different elements together in a design. Despite its name, white space does not need to be white. It can be any colors, textures, patterns, or even background images.
Common areas of white space include:
- The spaces around visual elements such as logos, photos, typography, paragraphs, etc.
- The spaces around blocks of content like the margins in a text document that split the left and right sides of a webpage.
- The spaces within design elements like white space within typography and glyphs, banners, illustrations, and images.
White space can be used to balance design elements and improve the visual communication experience. Not only the white space can create a well-organized outcome, but it also keeps your website from looking busy. By using white space, your website can improve its readability and performance. ‘Less is more’ is a perfect description for this composition. Keep this in mind! If you are clueless about the way to enhance your website performance, we offer you an outstanding service for your website development with a team based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Based on the density of white space and its relationship to other white space, it can be categorized into four groups:
1. MICRO WHITE SPACE
You can probably guess by the name of it. Yes, it is the small space between design elements. It can be the space between letters and words, lines and paragraphs, or between two graphic elements next to one another.
Micro white space like marginal white space surrounding paragraphs enormously affects audiences’ reading speed and comprehension. The readability decreases when the text appears in margins outside regular paragraphs. By using micro white space, it improves the clarity and transparency of a layout. Thus, it clearly proves that micro white space has a direct impact on content legibility.
2. MACRO WHITE SPACE
Contrary to the previous one, macro white space is the large space between major layout elements, and the space surrounding the design layout. Common places for macro white space are the right and left sides of websites’ content, and the space between content blocks. It acts as a tool to separate different elements of the web page. Your design will look entirely different when you change the area of macro white space.
Google is probably one of the websites with effective and intensive use of macro white space. Google’s homepage is aesthetically simple and calm. That plain white background with no clutter gives less work for your eyes and mind.
3. ACTIVE WHITE SPACE
A white space used to enhance page structure and guide users’ attention towards the particular surrounded objects. Active white space definitely increases users’ visibility and awareness.
4. PASSIVE WHITE SPACE
The minimal space between the elements is the passive white space. It is a necessity for your website. Passive white space guarantees good readability of the content, proper navigation, and improvement of layout aesthetics.
The image above shows the result of various arrangements with the addition of passive and active white spaces. You possibly notice right away that the right-hand-side example enhances the overall readability and space of the text by using passive white space. Using white space to improve the website’s appearance and performance is the best choice for your business reynoldsproperties. This task can be easily completed by hiring professional web designers in Bangkok to get your job done!
WHAT ARE ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING NEGATIVE SPACE?
1. LEGIBILITY
Different white space layouts result in various reading performances and overall experiences. Being essential for making interface content legible, white space should be considered when choosing the design specifications such as font, size, color, and tracking.
2. DESIGN TONE AND BRANDING
As it was mentioned above, the changing of white spaces can differ the total look of your website. White space contributes to the tone of the overall design. Higher numbers of macro white spaces create a stronger sense of minimalism and luxury whereas smaller amounts reflect more of informative quality. If you have a problem deciding the tone and the amount of white space of your website, our web design company can be your perfect helper. So, please feel free to contact us for more information, here.
3. FOCUS AND ATTENTION
One of the most important functions of white space is to guide the user through the main contents and design elements by producing a focal point. Giving priority to specific elements or content is the best way for your website’s strategy. The most obvious example is Google and its use of white space to focus on the main feature.
A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE USE OF WHITE SPACE
1. IMPROVE THE LEGIBILITY OF TEXT
No one would want to read tight and cluttered texts. If the space is too big, readers can also feel disconnected and lose their interests in the text. You need to balance it out! By using the correct amount of white space in a text can increase readability by up to 20%. Have you ever failed to improve your website performance and readability? Web design experts can be your mentor for a better version of your website.
2. ORGANIZE YOUR CONTENT
The law of proximity shows the relationship between human perception and certain visual elements. People tend to relate things that close to each other, whereas distance ones are believed to be different. White space between your content is a clue to show the relationship between different elements of your website. In terms of text, paragraphs should be used to group ideas together.
3. CREATE FOCUS AND EMPHASIS
The most common way to confuse your visitors is when your website shows a cluttered interface and too much information. It distracts visitors and leads to the loss of the core message. The white space surrounding an object can draw more attention from human eyes.
4. STRUCTURE YOUR CONTENT
How do you know whether you use white space effectively? If your website can direct the eye to flow from one element to another, then it is well-structured. A popular formula is a Z-shaped layout which derives from natural scanning habits. This is when the asymmetrical layout plays an important role. It can give directional emphasis and focus to a particular object or element.
5. GIVE AN IMPRESSION OF LUXURY
Have you ever heard the term ‘simple and yet still classy’? White space offers a sense of aesthetically elegance and sophistication. The impression of luxury is another effect of the use of white space.
Once again, white space doesn’t have to be white! The use of white space is key to maintain the flow of websites and manage the emphasis of the content. Use it wisely and your website will be upgraded tremendously!
Finding the right design for your website is harder than getting it done. Professional web designers can get it right for you in just a snap of fingers. Do you want to check this task off from your long to-do list? Contact us to cross it out!