DW's Blog

Design

by DW Green — April 26, 2017

Without whitespace, designs become crowded and chaotic.

Advertising design is very subjective. An ad that looks good or bad to me often provokes the opposite reaction to someone else. To each his own, but keep in mind that design is a skill, it’s a discipline, an art. Much as a musician seeks to understand pitch and rhythm, melody and tempo, a designer seeks a greater understanding and control over:

Unity

Gestalt

Space

Dominance

Hierarchy

Balance

Color Part 1: Theory

Color Part 2: How to Use Color

For example, whitespace or negative space is the space between design elements. It’s just as, if not more, important than the space you fill and is one of the most neglected components of visual design.

Day only exists in comparison to night and in much the same way your positive space (where design elements are located) only exist in comparison to the empty space around them. Without whitespace, designs become crowded and chaotic. There’s no flow of movement from one element to the next.

Space is the context in which your message is perceived. Without ample space communication is difficult. Imagine a piece of music where every note in the piece was played by every instrument at the same time. The result would be noise and not music. Music needs space (time) between notes in order to build rhythm and melody. Visual design needs space between elements in order to effectively communicate.

Too many supermarket ads neglect the effective use of whitespace.

A secondary purpose of strong ad design is its ability to enhance consumers’ perceptions of a company’s professionalism, product quality, a sense of fun and overall likeability. Keep these secondary benefits in mind when developing your weekly advertising.

We would love to work with you and your team on creating a new layout design for your weekly ad, email blast, website or in-store signage.