i'm sure most of us know about white space and negative space in graphic design but do
you get confused or lost when it comes to actually applying these things to your designs in real time
and we're going to be looking at design principle of space so we can end up with
beautiful designs that wow clients so before we look at some real life examples it's important to
understand the benefits of mastering space in your designs firstly if you utilize the space
properly it's going to enhance a visual hierarchy which is another very important principle in the
communication of your design secondly space prevents your designs from being cluttered
and cramped that's not something you want on your designs space also simply adds style
and elegance to your designs if done correctly and that's what we're going to talk about soon
but also when used correctly space also emphasizes bonds between visual elements
essentially it just enhances proximity this is useful for allowing your designs to make sense
when designing something in regard to the use of space
firstly ask yourself what is the contents you're working with what has the client given
you it's important to distinguish between macro white space and micro white space at this point
macro white space is the large expanse areas of nothingness that exists on your design whereas
the micro white space are the areas of smaller sections of nothingness between lines of text
paragraphs of text and closely packed together design objects for example if you're working on
a design where the client is giving you rooms and rooms of text to work with you're not going to be
focusing much on macro white space simply because you don't have much of it to work with your whole
vision and approach for that design should then shift to focusing on using more micro white space
effectively however you will still have elements of macro white space to consider albeit a lot less
now if you find yourself in a situation on a project where you're able to work
with both micro and macro white space it's important to consider the message
of the design and also the target audience you want to find the right balance of
micro and macro white space for targeted people who'll be viewing it if the design is a poster
targeting mainly young business professionals who will view the design whilst briskly walking
along the subway to work you want to tip the balance towards using more macro white space
this is so your design remains easy to digest and recognizable at first glance
having lots of macro white space will just create emphasis and hierarchy on the focal point
making the design more noticeable one rule of thumb that you can use is that
more macro white space can suggest minimalism modernity and luxury while if the balance is
shifted more to microwave space the design can be seen as more informative and serious
things do go deeper than just macro and micro white space however
we can enhance our designs with the use of passive white space and active white space
passive white space refers to the micro white space that helps legibility and the aesthetics of
a layout that is without guiding the view in terms of structure and viewing order active white space
on the other hand relates to helping the viewer move through your designs in order and structure
if we take a look at this example of a paragraph this design has poor use of microwave space it's
essentially just not even that legible if we add in some passive white space we can now read it
properly and the viewer has more of a pleasant experience but we can go further and apply
active white space to control the order and the movement of the reading experience
things are now broken down into digestible chunks which helps the viewer move between each part
of the design easily and this ensures they will remain on your design for a longer period of time
to summarize when considering the use of space on your designs it should always
be legible whatever you're designing also unless the brief specifically calls for it
you don't want the viewer to feel cramped and have a tough time navigating your design
you then need to consider the balance of micro and also macro white space that you're going to
use things that determine this are the message of your design the content given by the clients
the target audience and the context of the design in real life situations
use space to enhance other principles such as hierarchy and proximity and then lastly consider
passive and active workspaces if you didn't actually fully understand all of today's video
go back and watch it again so you can fully digest the content also look for white space in existing
designs and how they're being used is the white space there to guide a viewer around the design
is it used to help things be more legible but yeah if you want to learn more about graphic design
principles just click a video on screen and until next time guys design your future today peace
you