White space, also known as negative space, is the space on your website with nothing on it. No graphics, no words. To the typical bystander, white space looks like unused space. Many people don’t realize that white space serves just as much purpose as the other parts of your webpage.
Lead the Eye Around the Page
Think of white space as the path that leads the eye through the website. If the pathways are narrow and limited, the reader becomes lost in a sea of words. With wide spaces between blocks of text, the reader will find it easier to navigate between sections and find important information.
Add Some Elegance
Less is more when it comes to smart web design. White space helps support the presentation of your information, enabling you to showcase beautiful graphics and smart word usage. Well-used white space is sophisticated, elegant and attractive to general viewers.
Give Focus to Important Points
Think about the Google.com website. Your eye naturally focuses in on the graphics in the center of the Google page, because that’s nearly all there is to see. Google is a simple to use tool that becomes simpler as a result of the layout. Without clutter, advertisements, extra buttons and extra images, Google has made it easy to type a string of keywords into the search bar.
White space also makes it possible to focus more clearly on the call to action at the bottom of the page. By limiting color and text, the most important parts of the landing page or blog post become very clear.
How to Use White Space
If your company has a capable web designer, your web professional will probably build white space into your website as a part of the overall design. If your company manages its own web design, below are a few tips for using white space in your company webpage:
- Use 1.5 space between lines. Prevent your paragraphs from becoming crowded by setting the space between lines of text to 1.5.
- Pad the margins between paragraphs. Build a natural padding between paragraphs to prevent one paragraph from crowding another. This makes your text easier to scan and helps the visitor to your site find the right information quickly and easily.
- Remember that white space doesn’t actually have to be white. White space is only a term. This negative space on your website can be any color, and in fact, some web designers use graphics in place of white space. Provided that the graphic is subtle, the effect is the same. For example, take a look at the Diehl Group Architects website. Scrolling down, you’ll see a dark gray background with subtle geometric patterns. This pattern is the white space. It’s neither white nor is it a solid color, but it does help lead the eye around the page and provide breathing room between blocks of text.
Contact ProFromGo
Using white space doesn’t have to mean that your company’s website is limited in its color palette or in its design possibilities. With professional web design help, your company can use white space expertly and strategically to ensure that your message is delivered and your customers have a positive experience on your site. To find out more about using smart design conventions in your website, contact ProFromGo. As local online marketing experts, we can help you build a website that your customers find attractive and easy to use.
