Negative Space is a crucial design principle followed in website design. As the term ‘space’ suggests, it is actually the space between various design elements i.e. fonts, images etc. It is often not given priority by most of the designers, but one need to understand their importance so that it may be employed when required.

What Actually is Negative Space?

Negative and white space is the empty space between various design elements. It always stands in isolation. The concept behind the negative concept is that if there are no open spaces, it would be inconvenient to visualize that product. In web designing, these spaces render an entirely new sense to the design when the individual roles of positive and negative space are reversed.

If you carefully look at the image below, you will notice that the impact of white font on the black background is quite different from the one which is placed at the bottom. The text “negative” at the bottom of the image looks quite appealing. The space around the text is actually the negative space. It exists apart from the other parts of the image and has an influence in isolation.

Micro Negative Space

Micro negative is the small volume of space that exists between various design elements. As per the actual definition, micro negative spaces are the space between the paragraphs, lines and letters etc. It is always a challenge of making proper use of the space around the text that actually  makes the design lucrative and legible. It also adds to the convenience of the users in finding what they are searching for.

Macro Negative Space

The unused white space around the header and the footer of the webpage is what we call as the macro negative space. Since this space is comparatively larger to the space between the text and lines, so it is called macro space. One thing to be kept in mind is that macro negative space needs smart management of space as it can destroy the overall layout design of the website if balanced inappropriately.

Concluding Tips

• Do not underestimate the importance of negative space. It can often delight your visitors if you carefully employ them in your design process through a proper balance between text, font, images etc.
• It can be very useful in determining the hierarchy of your information.
• Negative space, when brought to use in accordance with the positive space, works quite well.
• When we talk about using Negative Spaces, there is a lot to work on through your creativity. A creative idea for utilizing negative spaces can bring wonders to the design.

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Saurabh Tiwary