B2B Design - The Need for Whitespace

Original Post  - Nov 08, 2007

Too often I come across websites or clients who want to get as much as they possibly can into the smallest possible space. They think that makes their site look trendy and up-to-date.

The problem is that the human mind processes text in a certain way - it actually uses the shapes of words and the contrast between white space and “ink” to figure out what’s going on. When you bring up a webpage, you actually scan it starting at the top left to right and then move down and then left to right again - very similar to how we read words on a sheet of paper.

Good design takes advantage of these natural tendencies by balancing colors, text, and, very importantly, whitespace. This is called negative space in the traditional design world and it is just as important as what you put on a page or canvas (or space, etc.). So when you layout your website design, keep in mind that whitespace is important and you need to space things out a bit just so people can get a handle on what you’re trying to convey. If you don’t, they’ll just go somewhere else that is easier to understand.