In your career as a graphic / web designer you will often hear about negative space, about its importance and about its advantages. Yes, at first it might strike you as something that you should avoid in your work, in order to be successful, but as the following lines will inform you, it is quite significant in your projects and you should be very careful when handling it. Therefore, everyone should learn how to use it, in order to come up with impressive, interesting and unique web designs. In this article, you will find out certain facts about the negative space, facts that will help you achieve your tasks and create remarkable designs.
Definition
First of all, let’s define this term. Negative space or the white space (although it is not always white, it could also contain patterns or background items) is the area between certain objects on the page. Some would define it as the space that has no content and even if “negative” sounds like something bad, something that would affect the final product, it is in fact something that every web design should take into consideration, because if properly used it could improve and embellish the layout.
The importance of negative space
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The work of a web designer is to take certain items and arrange them on the web layout. However, this mix shouldn’t be done randomly, on the contrary the web designer should think and he or she should create a relation between the items on the page. There are many people, who care only about the beauty and the aesthetics of the layout, but the fact is that one should learn how to fill in the space; should learn how to handle certain items and should bring ration to his or her website. So, once you will use logic when designing the items on your page, you will acknowledge the importance and significance of negative space in web design.
Negative space in logos and webpage layouts
Usually when designing a logo, the negative space is cleverly used to create visual effects with double meaning. This will help send a double message, create a nice effect and design an intelligent logo that will represent a brand. Once again, negative space proves to be quite important, because with the help of it designers will be able to come up with something really smart and interesting that will remain in people’s minds for ever.
However, in webpage layouts, negative space has a total different purpose, that being of managing the space between various items. It is important to remember to analyze the connections of the objects, to bring subtlety through the gaps and to distribute appropriately the negative space. Also, one should learn about the rule of proximity, which says that two objects that are meant to be together conceptually must be placed near to each other. Also the negative space in websites or any layout will increase readability of the user. While in mobile website, negative space plays vital role as breathing spaces should be concerned along with information squeezed together.
The amount of negative space
Another matter, that is quite important when dealing with the negative space, is to understand that quantity is not significant, but the proper utilization of it. You may hear many people saying that less or more is better, but these things are to be ignored, because if you will use more than necessary, the relation between your objects will fail to display the right design. The same goes for the situations in which web designers use less negative space. As you can see, the extremes are not beneficial for your work and one must use the ideal amount of negative space that will help items connect and interact.
The results of negative spaces
Although the amount is not very important, talented web designers are extremely skilled in using the negative space, less or more, in order to transpose their vision and a certain aesthetic in the world of the Internet. For instance when some use more is because they need simple and efficient webpage layouts that will result in making certain graphics, products, or explanations of various facts more visible and easier to access. Also, an uncluttered page layout will look more elegant and stylish, thus if you desire to create something like this, keep in mind that you must use more negative space.
If you are trying to create something less formal, funny and entertaining, the method you should use (which is extremely great for websites with illustrations) will leave your visitors the impression that your website has a random design. This means that the negative space could be defined by irregularities and arbitrary gaps between objects.
When web designers desire to attract the attention of their audience, they will leave the impression of using less negative space, but in fact this will be covered by complex details. So, even if the presence of complex artwork will make the others believe that little negative space has been used, the real intention is to focus the attention and the interest of the readers towards the website. And this is quite necessary, especially when the website sells, let’s say graphic designs.
And, when the white space is strictly distributed, then the use of frame shows the designer’s wish to get rid of the discrepancy of space between his or her components. In fact, this is the perfect use of negative space, when the area is small and when the designer wants to arrange things in a logical, methodical and ordered manner.
So, the conclusion is that web designers should focus more on the negative space because it is an issue that affects the design of their projects. After all, it is important to understand why certain items should be placed on the webpage layout and how should this arrangement go. At the same time, one should start seeing the white space, in order to stop arranging the elements randomly. The result of this will be the conceiving of a meaningful webpage layout that the visitors will appreciate, since it will be easier to use and read. Thus, take into consideration every aspect that has an impact of your website, if you want the number of your audience to grow.
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