Ask any person who has lived in a city
Space is super important! As a New Yorker, I know firsthand the effect space(or lack thereof) has on a person’s wallet and psychological well-being. Whether it is a crowded subway car in the middle of rush hour (one of the worst experiences ever) or walking through an empty parking lot in the middle of the night (spooky or cinematic depending on the type of person you are) space definitely has an impact on how people view their environment (and even themselves).
Even worse is when other people invade our personal space. That happens alot here in new york city, especially while waiting in line or travelling on the subway. I personally HATE it, and it seems some people do it purposefully to throw their weight around.
How to be conscious of how you use space
But what does that mean for us Web/visual designers? Maybe it is just me, but it seems way easier (and more fun) to focus on the impact of colors and typography than it does to analyze space. The former certainly feels more tangible than the latter.
When I first started my visual design journey, I paid ZERO attention to how I used space. I was too focused on getting all the elements on the page, that WHERE the elements should be placed did not cross my mind. Like, at all. A lot of my early web design projects looked like this.
As you can see (hopefully) the typography lacks hierarchy. The use of negative space isn’t consistent. It kinda feels like someone just slapped some letters on the page and called it a day!
With a little help from Affinity Designer’s ruler functionality, I made a better version. Check it out and tell me what you think in the comments! I need all the visual design feedback I can get.
If you struggle with visual design
I would encourage you to use all the tools available to you. That means non-digital tools too, like pencil, paper, and rulers. While I do use such basic tools sometimes, my handwriting isn’t the best. Also, I often need to share documents with my Perpetual Education teammates. That is where Affinity designer comes in handy. I used it today to do an assignment for today’s lesson where we learned about how to use negative space.
No matter how you choose to use negative space, you have to be able to explain your ideas. That lesson, and learning how to explain my ideas (with daily opportunities) is one of my favorite aspects of being a Perpetual Education student. It’s also where I heard about/learned how to use some of the features of Affinity designer.
Don’t be a space case
The TLDR is, you must use your space responsibly and be aware of how it affects you and the people in your environment. In the real world and on the computer screen. Use the tools you have available to align items on the page correctly, and don’t feel like you have to use ALL the available space on the page. Leave some for the rest of us :)