White Space

As your eyes scan down this blog post, something keeps them fixed on the text and (hopefully) interested enough to read further. While the content of an article can accomplish this, so can the design. 

Using White Space Effectively

The white space around blocks of text and between sentences is often overlooked. Well, to be fair, it's meant to be subconsciously overlooked. However, that ornamentally-impaired and visually-neglected area plays a very important role in showing your eyes where to focus on an article or other piece of writing, and can even make the text more appealing, simply by being vacant space.

White space let's us know when a sentence or idea is important.

To illustrate that point, the above sentence has been given plenty of white space, an effect that carves out a special place for weighty or critical information. It's professional writing's equivalent of putting lights on a billboard; not too flashy, but will draw the eyes where they need to be. 

After all, what are bullet points, headings, and indentations except the clever use of white space (and sometimes other techniques) to make the body of text easier to read and understand?

But Let's Not Overdo It

We do have to be careful with how much white space we decide to use. While it's good technique and a fine tool to employ for the right situations, the blog WritingHood notes that “if there is too much white space, then the piece looks unprofessional.” 

If things are too broken apart, the paragraphs look unorganized and the ideas feel incomplete. But the appropriate amount of white space will likely also vary based on the type of writing.

So How Much?

For a narrative, even without a lot of dialogue, the blog WriteItSideways says it's normal to use a lot of “breathing space,” and that it “feels natural” in the context of a more relaxed narrative. When the action is fast-paced and intense, though, it is more likely that the text will be condensed in order to keep the reader's eyes moving and their mind focused on whatever the author intends. This keeps the breaks from feeling too forced or slowing down the pace of the story of body of text. Sometimes it's appropriate to fit a lot of information into a single paragraph if the information is intended to be seen together and of equal importance.

Sentences in other forms of writing, like this blog post, need a little bit more room to breathe to keep the eyes of the reader scanning down the page with ease and interest.

Final Thoughts

Author Cheryl Tardif has some interesting things to say about the use of white space. She says “our eyes tend to naturally look for white space,” and perhaps more dramatically:

“The sentences closest to the white space are the ones most remembered.”