The debate over the effectiveness of whitespace in web design is a hot topic among web designers. While some may not see the benefit, others are fully aware of how powerful it is in transforming a website. If you’re not sure of how beneficial whitespace is, stick around! We explore the effectiveness of whitespace and how to use it correctly.
What is whitespace in web design?
Whitespace in web design refers to the negative or unmarked areas around design elements. This can include wide margins, spacing between blocks of text, or negative space surrounding images. While it’s widely used in effective web design, whitespace is a concept that’s been around long before the dawn of the internet.
While it’s called whitespace, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the colour white. Instead, whitespace is any blank space with no design elements. As such, whitespace can still be filled with a colour, pattern, or background image.
For example, all the spacing around the text content displayed on the Dreamscape site below is still whitespace despite the background colour and gradient:
One of the biggest criticisms faced by web owners is that whitespace is considered a waste of valuable screen space. However, the opposite is true. Whitespace plays a crucial role in web design for improving readability, user experience, and engagement.
The power of whitespace plays an important role in ensuring your web design attracts and engages site visitors. If you’re still not sold on the power of whitespace, read on! We’ll explore the power of whitespace and why you should use it in your web design.
Why should you use whitespace?
You should consider using whitespace in your web design for several reasons:
Minimalism over maximalist
Minimalism and maximalism are two design concepts on opposite ends of the spectrum. Maximalism refers to an excess aesthetic. In the case of web design, this would involve over-designing and filling the available space with design elements. Maximalist web designs have no or very little whitespace.
This typically results in a web design that looks cluttered and unappealing, like the example below. A user landing on this site will have no idea where to look first or understand the message (not to mention a headache!) as there’s just too much clutter.
The opposite of maximalist design is minimalism. Minimalist web designs have gained popularity in recent years due to their simplicity and balance. Unlike maximalist designs, minimalist web designs opt for a less is more approach. In other words, extensive use of whitespace.
As a result, websites with a minimalist design will perform better on a range of different devices, put greater focus on the most important content, and improve conversions. The whitespace used in minimalist web designs also helps the content to breathe and add a greater sense of balance, as seen in the example below.
While both websites focus on cars, chances are the minimalist web design above will be much more striking and appealing to visitors than the maximalist design. The minimalist design manages to effectively put across its core message without bombarding users.
Guides the user’s attention
One reason behind the power of whitespace is that it can help guide the user’s attention. Once you’ve attracted a visitor to your site, you need to attract their attention to keep them on your site. Whitespace plays a vital role in helping you attract the user’s attention.
Effectively using whitespace will ensure that vital content and messages stand out to the users immediately. Removing unnecessary clutter and avoiding over-designing reflects positively on users and helps achieve your objectives.
Decreases page load speeds
Page load speeds are a significant factor impacting the user experience. The longer it takes for a page to load, the higher your bounce rate. Over-designing will negatively impact page load page speed due to the high amounts of content that need to be downloaded and rendered.
By effectively using whitespace in your web design, you minimise the amount of clutter or design elements on your page. As such, pages take less time to load helping boost your page load speeds and the user experience. The same is true for the simple and clean design you gain in the process.
Optimising your images is another method you can use to decrease your page load speeds. Check out these tips for optimising images in web design.
Improves content legibility
Providing sufficient whitespace around text content and imagery can significantly improve content legibility. Imagine trying to read a large block of text on a website with very little spacing between the words and lines.
Research has shown that using whitespace to improve legibility increases comprehension by 20%. Therefore, ensuring sufficient spacing between paragraphs and margins is crucial. This is typically referred to as micro whitespace (small spacing between design elements).
Boosts conversions
Another benefit of effectively using whitespace in web design is that helps boost conversions. By utilising whitespace, you help users focus on the most important areas of your content. It also helps your call-to-actions (CTAs) to be more visible.
The human eye is naturally drawn to unusual or unique things much quicker than if it is mixed with other content. This is referred to as the Von Restorff effect. The more something stands out from the crowd, the more likely it is to be seen.
The same is true for CTAs in web design. By utilising whitespace to make your CTAs stand out, users are much more likely to be attracted to and act on the action. As a result, your conversion rate is much more likely to increase.
Better user experience
The user experience is an essential element of every web design. A website that promotes a positive user experience is more likely to benefit from improved conversions, better engagement, and greater SEO performance.
Effectively using whitespace in your website can ensure you promote a positive user experience. This is achieved in three ways; driving attention to important design elements, creating a visual hierarchy for improved flow, and creating connections between content and design elements.
Using whitespace in your web design is like a desk free from clutter. Users have a much easier time navigating, reading, and interacting with your site. Less intrusions are interrupting them and they can find things much more easily. As a result, the user experience improves.
How do you effectively use whitespace?
There’s more to it than just leaving areas of your site without any design elements. Effective use of whitespace requires much more thought and planning.
There’s no set amount of whitespace you should use in web design. The amount of effective whitespace will differ from website to website. However, whitespace can provide up to 50% of a web design for a given page.
Here are some tips you can use to help you effectively implement whitespace into your web design:
- Utilise visual hierarchy by adding whitespace in the right places that help guide the users’ eyes. Reading patterns can help a lot here to effectively use whitespace in your web design.
- Use text formatting to ensure suitable margins and spacing between words, lines, and paragraphs. This improves the presentation of text and the readability of your content.
- Group design elements into logical categories by organising content together.
- Go for a minimal web design that focuses on a less is more approach.
- Ensure plenty of whitespace around design elements you want to place focus and emphasis on, such as headings and CTAs.
- Ensure you use both macro (larger areas of whitespace) and micro (whitespace around small elements) whitespace.
- Run tests to determine the effectiveness of your whitespace, such as heatmaps and A/B testing.
- Whitespace usage may be different between desktop and mobile devices. Make sure you optimise whitespace usage for all devices (this is essential for a responsive design). Whitespace is particularly crucial on mobile around clickable elements for better interaction.
Implementing whitespace effectively into your web design is crucial for creating a website that is clean and inviting. By ensuring you provide sufficient breathing space around your design elements, you can attract users and keep them interacting on your site. While it may take some time to find the right balance of whitespace, it’s a secret weapon that can help make your website stand out and provide the best user experience.