Design Principle: White Space

The other day, I opened my mailbox to find the usual: some bills (of course), a couple of special offers JUST for me (nobody falls for those), a ‘You’ve WON’ envelope (spoiler alert: No, I didn’t), and one other eye catching piece of mail…. a menu from a restaurant, designed to entice me into visiting and spending my hard earned money there.

The problem? I did not know where to look. The offerings, some of which looked fantastic, were kind of…. Crowded. Undefined. Just…. Crowded.

Which made me confused. Which is never a good way to entice your clients. What were their actual specialties? What are they KNOWN for? And, show me the deals please! If I’m going to head in with my girlfriends for a happy hour, what’s on deck?

What exactly will I be spending my money on, and what exactly will I be getting?

Their design lacked something. Their overloaded menu was, believe it or not, shy on one element: White Space.

A design principle used for clarity, white space isn’t always literally the color white. What this refers to is the blank areas surrounding other elements of design. In this case, it was the areas that would define the establishment’s signature item, the areas that would indicate where my eyes can quickly find the deals of the day and the ability to show clarity and hierarchy.

Every business has their specialty, and that’s what I would have liked to see showcased here. You cannot have 40 specialties, and when I looked at this menu, that’s what it appeared to me. Confusion set in as I failed to find any hierarchy that might indicate that THIS was the thing we do best! The rest is great, but you CAN’T MISS this item!

That’s the message your assets should be indicating.

Knowing how to design for maximum impact without confusion involves the use of white space. Guiding the eyes subtly to where YOU want them to go is an art. You can adjust space between text and images to help define the space and guide your viewer in making their choices.

White space can be large blocks, smaller blocks or even highlights. We can intentionally add highlighting for emphasis and to really hit home that THIS is what you wanted to see!

When someone looks at a too-crowded flyer, landing page or menu without any white space to define the offerings, the client’s eyes start to glaze over while they look for another option that provides a clear path to where they want to spend their money.

Confused clients don’t buy. Clarity sells.

Creating beautiful and impactful designs takes a little work, and that’s why I’m SO excited to share that I’m creating a course for DIY’ers of ALL levels! My goal is to help you go from Blah to Beautiful and know that your ideal clients will NOT see an overcrowded menu, but rather a lovely, clear and defined offering that will get them ready to buy your specialty.

If you are interested in stretching YOUR creative muscles, email me here and get on the list for an early invitation to my upcoming course on how to take your designs from Blah to Beautiful!

Launching SOON so get on the list by emailing me here: [email protected] and letting me know you'd like to be notified! See you there!