A Whitespace, also known as negative space, can make or break the design of your website or web application. We will see in this article how whitespaces improve the look and feel of your design as well as what you need to keep in mind when using them in your next project.
How Much Whitespace Should We Use?
Using whitespace in web design can add a lot of value to your website. And yet, many people wonder how much whitespace is too much. How can we tell? What are some examples of websites that use a good amount of whitespace and what makes them successful?
As web designers, we have to look at it from two perspectives: how does it affect users and how does it affect business owners? A good rule of thumb is to keep user experience in mind while making design decisions.
Using whitespace to frame sections of your website and using full width images can help keep users engaged with your content. How much whitespace should we use? The answer is that it depends on your specific website. It’s not about copying a set amount of whitespace, but rather thinking about what makes sense for your business and designing around that.
Think about whitespace like a lightbox for your content, where empty space around text is what allows users to focus on what’s really important on each page. Whitespace also helps you make pages that are more mobile-friendly and better suited for future trends in web design.
Here are 3 fundamental rules when working on a website wireframe, especially connected to the use of whitespace:
- Highlight an area of importance with a featured image and allow plenty of whitespace.
- Use full width images in background patterns or in gallery formats to emphasize something specific.
- Leave ample whitespace between important text content and calls-to-action on pages so users can read without feeling distracted by ads.
What Are The Benefits Of Using Whitespace?
There are many benefits of using whitespace in web design, but designers often forget to consider them. Whitespace is more than just empty space – it has a purpose and can improve user experience.
The benefits of using whitespace include:
- Increased content readability: Consideration should be given to legibility when people visit your site. It is important for users to know where they are going and to continue reading the content. Apparently, having enough space in between sections of content helps people understand what they are reading and leads to a better user experience for all readers.
- Improved interactions: It is well-known that people are always in a hurry when they surf the web, and a good amount of white space prevents any unnecessary distractions that will slow them down. Just by adding whitespace around text and images on your site, you will get the message across to your site visitors much more effectively. Studies have shown that adding white space to your website results in a 20% increase in comprehension.
- Highlighting CTAs: In order to emphasize certain things, sometimes the most logical way is to make them bigger. You can enlarge an image or make a button bigger. Sometimes surrounding an item with whitespace can also have the same effect.
- A clean site means a good-looking site: Your site’s first impression is an integral part of its image. Nicely structured layouts, beautiful color schemes, these all contribute to how your website appears, but especially important is white space because it indicates elegance and ingenuity. White space doesn’t just make your website appear stark and minimalistic. White space will make your website look a lot better and elegant, as long as you use it in the correct way.
- Perfect for separating elements: Whitespace separates elements in a design. You can use whitespace between the images and graphics to separate them, improve your overall visual layout, and communicate your ideas and designs effectively.
The golden ratio in whitespace
One of best techniques for getting a perfect amount of whitespace for your site is to follow one simple rule: Try to divide your page into thirds both horizontally and vertically (4 boxes, or 2 rows and 2 columns). The ratios in between are 1:1.618, which many call The Golden Ratio.
This ratio will look pleasing to most people’s eyes, but you may want to do some testing to find out what ratio works best for your audience.
Let’s talk about web design services
If you are looking for a SC web design company, we can help you with that. We have lots of experience in developing custom WordPress themes and plugins along with custom web development to help create that unique and professional look for your company website, while making it more functional and easy to use as well.
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