White space is good but it needs to be in the right places. In the illustrations above, clockwise from upper left:
- The black represents the white space or negative space on the page. As you can see, white space isn't limited to margins and large blank areas.
- Kerning adds white space and creates an interesting headline.
- Ragged right text alignment adds breathing room to text heavy documents but text that is too ragged is not only unattractive, it can create little pools of trapped space.
- When framing a box of text, leave some breathing room between the box and the text.
- Bullets shouldn't float off alone. Close up the gap between bullets and the text that goes with them.
- Before & After: White space doesn't have to be white. The large block of black created by the graphic of people adds a large block of black white space. Multiplying the number of people and reducing the size of the car in the "White Space" example on the right provides additional contrast and reinforces the theme of the copy. Additional leading, larger margins, deeper paragraph indents all add white space or breathing room to the design.
There is no proper percentage of white space. If a page looks or feels crowded, it probably needs more white space. In general, more white space lends an upscale feel to a piece. More utilitarian documents use less white space.
